The Monk
by DarkRonin101
Summary: Shortly after birth, Naruto was taken in to be raised by a strange old monk. What awaits hims now that he isn't just a mere ninja?
1. Chapter One

**Author's Note**: This may be the only Author's Note that I will post for this story. I know that I've done them many times before for my other stories to help explain certain things, but this will not be the case anymore. To sum this up quickly, I'd like to say a few more things. If you have any questions, just send a private message instead of posting a review. Also, as time went by, I realized that I myself came to hate having everything explained to me, took some fun out of the reading and honestly, the author doesn't have to explain everything to the reader.

Since the author doesn't necessarily have to explain everything to the readers, I'm going to let it be known now that I will have instances where you might find something odd or poorly worked out. That is intentional, and meant to be saved for a later date. Part of a story is being along for the journey; like I said before, takes some fun out of it. Besides, who wants to be spoon fed anymore?

Some of you (or those who have this or me on Alert) may have read this story before. You have, this has been revised to how I feel it should be now after looking back at it. Since this story was originally published a few years ago it might be good to catch up on what has been changed. I also changed the Rating of the story to reflect how I personally feel about stories in general. They shouldn't be restricted by the guidelines of a certain Rating.

Also on one last note, I am busy with other writing projects as well as school, so don't expect regular updates from me. They will be posted when I get around to them. Well enough with my ramblings, lets get on with the story!

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is the sole property of Masashi Kishimoto. I'm just adding a twist to it.

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Prologue

Silently walking up the a small basket where light breathing can be heard within the darkness of the office, an old man who wore the traditional outfit of his profession, a monk, but his clothing was raggedy and old. Looking over the small sleeping bundle within the basket, the old man glanced out the window of the most important room within the tower. Coming in from the outside, the sounds of the dead and dying, along with the lamentations of the living for those who passed on. He stared out the window, and saw flames out in the night.

The old monk knows of what has happened but only a few hours ago. The demon Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked this once peaceful village that ninja's inhabit. Not even feeling a bit of remorse for the people of this village, the monk turned away from the window and looked back at the child in the basket. 'So young, so frail, yet given an unbearable burden, a burden to house a demon for the rest of his short life,' the monk thought as he stared at the young blonde child with sadness hidden behind his eyes. 'I might as well perform the Kami Kakushi on this child, to just give him a bit of hope away from this village full of fools…' His line of thought was interrupted when the door to the office opened and light poured in, revealing him before the child.

"Who are you and what are you doing here," the Sandaime Hokage said, with an edge to his voice. He was wearing his battle attire, for the battle has just ended a few hours ago, he was still trying to help get things in some form of order.

Glancing over his shoulder, the monk saw the Sandaime out of the corner of his eyes. "I'm here for the child," the monk said as he turned around, his conical straw hat lowered over his eyes. At his side was a staff with five rings at the top.

"I will not let you take him," the Sandaime said as he dropped into a fighting stance. But it was only until he noticed the long nose of the monk that his eyes widened in shock. "You… you are…"

"So human, you finally know what I am," the monk said as his presence seemed to become larger and more powerful. "Then you will know that it would do you no good to have my wrath unleashed just after what happened a mere few hours ago."

Dropping his hands in defeat, the Sandaime studied the monk for a few moments until saying, "Then if you going to take him, then raise him if you will, I am too old to be doing such things as it is, and no one else will be willing to take care of that child."

"What do I have to gain from this deal of yours," the monk asked, as his presence seemed to diminish greatly. That caught the Sandaime off guard, seeing this, the monk continued. "I see, so nothing at all… why not; I've always had a soft spot for orphans anyway."

Sighing in relief, the Sandaime then asked, "Then can you please raise him within Konoha, I know it will be tough, but for the sake of his father, who loved this village so much and gave his life…"

"To rid the demon of Konoha," the monk finished. "Yes, I know all about it." After a few moments of silence the monk spoke up once again. "Since we will be staying here, I would like to make some living arrangements."

Pleased to know that the monk is willing to stay in Konoha, despite knowing of how annoyed the monk will be with some of the various clans within Konoha. "We can discuss this after everything else has settled down," the Sandaime stated with a smile, which turned into a frown after seeing the monk displeased with that. "Is something wrong?"

"We'll be taking the small humble temple that is near the so-called 'Forest of Death' of this village," the monk said with a matter of fact tone.

"But that is so soon, I won't be able to get the proper papers nor will it be ready for the two of you," the Sandaime stammered out in shock alone. He knows of the temple which the monk speaks of, but it's a run downed building which is as of now, close to collapsing if a harsh storm comes by. It might not be even there now after the shockwaves of the attack from the demon. "It might not be even there anymore."

"Oh, it's there all right, and it will be ready for the two of us very soon as well," the monk said with a mischievous grin. "Now, we must make our leave!" And before the Sandaime could have done anything, the monk vanished with the basket. No signs of them leaving at all could be found, which seemed almost like a dream, but the Sandaime knew better.

"These years to come are going to be interesting, eh Minato," the Sandaime said as he looked up at the pictures of the Hokage's who have passed on into the Next World. But his eyes rested on the young blonde man whose blue eyes seemed to pierce the very soul itself.

High above the village in the sky, the monk looked down at the sleeping bundle within his arms, he sighed, "How do I get myself into these sorts of situations again?" Looking over at the temple that is to their home for the next couple of years. "It will be interesting with taking care of a human child, especially you Naruto."

**Chapter One**

The sun, as bright as it is, it was blinding him as he was being shook into wakefulness. He mumbled a few words before opening his drowsy black yet hawk-like eyes at the young boy who was shaking him. "I'm up I'm up," the old monk said as he sat up on his futon. "What do you want Naruto?"

"Grandpa, you promised that you would take me to the park today," the young three year said with a pout. Yes, it's been three long years since that day in which the old monk adopted Naruto, and he has of yet to really regret ever making the decision. That he was enjoying being the grandfather to this young human child.

Staring down at Naruto before looking out of the window, the old monk noticed that it was early morning by the height of the sun. Smiling warmly down at Naruto as he picked up the young child and placed him in his lap, the old monk replied, "That I did Naruto that I did. But if you want to go out and play, you better get out of your pajamas and into your clothes." Setting Naruto off of him and getting up as well, the old monk continued. "We'll leave once we've finished breakfast."

Naruto happily nodded and bounded off to his room within the temple, which wasn't too far away from the monks own room. Sliding the door closed, Naruto soon went to his dresser and pulled out his white haori and his black hakama which fits him just right despite his small size. Sure some of the kids think he dresses strangely, but once they see his Grandpa, they soon understand somewhat if their parents don't take them away from the young blonde.

He was about to leave through the sliding doorway when he suddenly remembered something. "Where are my tabi," the young Naruto thought, not wanting to really hurt his feet for not having them. This search took about five long minutes for the young child before he found them lying haphazardly underneath his futon. Soon after throwing them on, Naruto ran down the hallways and into the kitchen where he soon sat down at the table, and before him was a warm bowl of ramen. "Itadakimasu!" He then started to devoir the all of the contents within the bowl.

The old monk chuckled as he watches Naruto eat the bowl of ramen with ferocity that rivals that of his own. He sighed a bit, ramen cheap and easy to make for the young boy, but he needs to eat other things, but those are out of the question right now due to the lack of funds. Soon, he found himself enjoying his own bowl. Once they were finished, the monk took both bowls and placed them in the sink for him to wash later, because right now he has a promise to keep, and if there was one thing about the monk, it was that he always keeps his promises.

Naruto happily ran about once they were outside the temple, the young child has so much energy that it seems so unreal, for the walk was from their humble temple is about a ten minute walk before they reach the park. Even though Naruto was in good mood, the monk was not, for today there would be a lack of attendance at the park, which he doesn't mind, but Naruto would be disappointed yet spared the harsh treatment he has been receiving. He can rarely ever afford to let Naruto out of his sights for a moment in the case that someone might do something terrible.

In the first year of taking care of Naruto, a vengeful Shinobi from the village snuck into the temple and threatened Naruto's young life. The infant was spared from death only thanks to the old monks instincts and knowledge of the grounds at all times. And there were the times in which he took the infant into the village for some shopping or to meet with the Hokage, and each time they would receive disgusted looks. Naruto may not know why they get the looks that they receive, but he will soon come to understand that one day, once the monk feels that the young boy is ready for such information.

Soon reaching the park, the monk wasn't surprised to notice that Naruto was a bit disappointed. "I guess that everyone is at the parade today Naruto," the monk stated as he looked down at Naruto.

"Parade," the young boy asked. He didn't hear about a parade at all, but what is that noise coming from the main street.

"The parade is honoring the end of a terrible event," the monk explained to the young child, choosing what words to use for his small mind.

"Can we go to the parade?"

Looking down at the young child, whose eyes were pleading and using the dreaded puppy dog look, which the monk detests most about taking care of Naruto, the old monk relented by taking Naruto's small yet smooth hands into his old rough hands. As they walked down to Main Street, the monk's staff was ringing.

Upon reaching the parade, the monk lifted Naruto up onto his shoulders, but doing this, he had to let his hat hang off the back of his neck and let the sun shine down upon his head. "Can you see," he asked as he glanced up at the three year old on his shoulders. He smiled as the young blonde giggled and was got caught up in the spell of the parade. One that captures the attention and hearts of most beings. The monk of course was glad for the spell for it allowed them to enjoy this event without much trouble. But his keen eyes noticed something; the air around the parade seemed a bit off, so searching the crowds, he thought, 'Where are the Hyuuga's?' He of course can see the members of the various clans within the village, but there's no way at all he can not miss a Hyuuga, for they are the most arrogant clan within the village, with the Uchiha Clan not far behind in second most arrogant clan within the village.

"Who's he," young Naruto said as he tapped his grandfather's bald head and pointed at a man who was walking down the street and waving to the crowd.

"Someone from another village," the monk simply explained. He then turned to the side and tapped someone on the shoulder. "Excuse, do you know why the Hyuuga aren't here today?"

The person merely shrugged and said, "I'm not entirely too sure, but from what I've heard, it's that they are back at their compound because today because the heiress it turning three today."

"Ah, thank you very much, I will have to give my blessings to her then," the monk said, but in truth, he was rather reluctant about going to the Hyuuga compound. He rather detests, and others of his kin share a same trait, arrogant humans, especially ninja's and samurai.

"No problem master," the person said with a nod of the head.

'A rather respectful young man,' the monk thought as he studied the young man who just helped him. His silver hair was odd, and his lazy demeanor was odd as well, but his headband and masked face easily told the old monk who he was due to his various talks with the Hokage. 'So this is the young Kakashi, rather impressive for a young man indeed.' He was about to continue watching the parade with Naruto, when two ANBU appeared behind him. They appeared so suddenly that the monk had his staff in the face of one as he nonchalantly kept Naruto up on his shoulders. Even the young Kakashi seemed shocked at this. "What do you two want," the monk asked, not taking his eyes off of the parade. Naruto who noticed what was going on, was used to this sort of thing happening.

"We bare a message from Hokage-sama for you," the taller one of the two said which had the monk turn around and faces them. "He would like to speak with you in his office right now Master Karasu."

The monk, Karasu, sighed, before nodding. The two ANBU then disappeared in a plume of smoke, and both Karasu and Naruto vanished as well instantly. Completely taken by surprise of what transgressed, Kakashi was visibly, despite his masked appearance, surprised.

Moments later, the four appeared within the office of the Hokage within the Tower of Fire. The Hokage stood by the windows of the office, looking down at the parade in his ceremonial Kage robes. Glancing back at the four, Sarutobi nodded to the two ANBU, which took the message that they were dismissed and vanished as they did before in the streets. Turning around with a smile on his face at the sight of Karasu and Naruto, Sarutobi greeted them, "Welcome and thank you for coming Karasu-sama. I see that you brought little Naruto with you as well."

Giggling from on top of his grandfather, Naruto nodded, he liked this old man as well for he was very kind to him. "That I did, but what is so important this time around that you needed to send two of your ANBU to fetch both me and my grandson," Karasu asked as he took Naruto off of his shoulders and set him on the ground. The young child pouted for a moment before running off to another part of the office to find something to amuse himself.

The Sandaime Hokage sighed, clearly a bit troubled, "It involves the Hyuuga, surely by now that you know of the status within the clan?" Karasu nodded. "Well, today is young Hinata's third birthday, but today is also going to be terrible for they are going to…"

"Place one of those disgusting seals that you humans have created to keep control over others of your kind," Karasu finished, thoroughly rethinking about going to give his blessings. "Yes, I've heard of this, its not new overall since those of my kin have heard of this long ago."

Nodding, Sarutobi continued, "Then you understand why I would like you to come with me to the compound now."

Nodding as well, the monk replied, "That I do understand, but I will only be there to assist you and nothing else, but I will also have to…"

"Bring Naruto with you," Sarutobi finished with a grin, and Karasu nodded as he glanced down at the young blonde who was currently pulling the sleeve of his grandfather's haori. "Then do it, he might have fun there?"

"Or as much fun as they will allow with us there," Karasu stated, as he mildly glared at the Hokage. "You may have placed that law in effect, but it has still isolated my grandson from others of his age."

Seeming to age before Naruto's eyes, the Sandaime sighed. Though Naruto clearly knew nothing of what was being said, but he wanted to sit on his grandfather's shoulders again. "I know, I've noticed what happens when you are out trying to have a good time and when he tries to make some friends. But Hinata is also friendless as well due to her upbringing, so they might be able to have some fun together. Besides, Hiashi isn't like the rest of the clan."

"I've heard," Karasu muttered, still not liking the idea of going there. "But he was also a friend of your Yondaime Hokage, so it should be pleasant at least."

"Good, then we are ready to go," Sarutobi stated as he lead the monk and Naruto, who was once again sitting on his shoulders, out of the tower.

It took the trio about a half hour before reaching the Hyuuga Clan Compound. Karasu knew that it was the compound due to the fact that its walls were white and the guards were immense, signifying the importance of what is transpiring within the walls. Upon being seen by the guards, the guards bowed out of respect for the Hokage, but glared at the 'Demon' and his 'master'. Truly dirty terms that Karasu has come to learn of what he is known as within the village, 'To associate me with demons would they,' Karasu thought as he returned the glare ten-fold back at the guards. "We cannot let you enter," the head guard at the entrance said, his white eyes revealed his lineage.

"It's all right, they are with me," Sarutobi explained as he patted the guard on the shoulder. They all seemed to reluctantly let them both in, but being close to the Hokage of this village has its perks of course.

As the gates slowly opened, they all noticed that all eyes were on them, all of those piercing white eyes of the Hyuuga were on them. The majority of the owners of the eyes were well practiced within their family's art. 'A dangerous hostile air of course,' Karasu thought with a grin. "Hokage-sama, what did we do to deserve the honor of you blessing us with your presence this day," a one of the obvious branch members of the clan asked as he walked up to the trio upon getting a look from one of the older members of the clan.

Smiling kindly, Sarutobi stated, "I am here to see the proceedings of what is about to be performed this day, and to see if I can stop this foolishness within the clan."

"We understand why you are here Hokage-sama, but why are they here," an older member of the clan, whose aged masculine voice stated.

"I am merely here for two reasons," Karasu stated as he set Naruto once again on the ground from his shoulders. "First off, I was going to come by to wish the heiress a happy birthday after hearing about it by the parade thanks to that young lad Kakashi. But upon being called upon by Sarutobi-san, he asked me to merely assist him if a need for me has arisen."

"Fine, but why is _it_ here," one of the younger men of the clan asked as he glared at Naruto.

Seeing this, Karasu glared at the young man, and if glares could kill, the man would have been dead right on the spot, "My _grandson_ is here with me today since I have no one who is willing to watch him for any length of time. And under the suggestion of Sarutobi-san, I brought him with me."

"And what an excellent suggestion that was," Hiashi said as he walked up to greet the guests. "I welcome the three of you to our humble home. We would feel honored if you let your grandson play with the other children; they rarely get out as it is to play with others of their own age." After he said this, Hiashi sent an almost unnoticeable glare at all who dared to question him. "Allow me to introduce my daughter Hinata…" He then gestured to his side, where a small young girl in a pink kimono was hiding behind Hiashi. "…who is turning three on this very day. And who may this young man be?" He finished this while smiling kindly at Naruto.

'This man is nice,' Naruto thought as he came out from behind his grandfather. He was there because of all the mean people who were glaring at him. "This young lad is my grandson, Naruto, whom I'm guessing that most of your family already knows of," Karasu said as he casually glanced around at the gathering, noticing that most of people who he looked at turned their heads away. "Why don't you say hello to the nice girl Naruto?"

"Hello," the young blonde exclaimed with a wave and a huge grin.

"Hello," the young heiress shyly said.

"Oh a shy one isn't she," Karasu said as he smiled at the interaction between the two children.

"And your grandson has a set of lungs," Hiashi returned with a smirk.

"That was nothing; you should hear him in the morning when he's trying to wake me up for one reason or another."

"I'll take your word for it," Hiashi replied as he held a hand out towards Karasu who grasped it and shook hands with the Head of the Clan.

"It is truly an honor to meet one as such as you Hiashi-san," Karasu said as he suddenly released the Hyuuga's hand. "But I do believe that we all should get down to business and let the children have their fun. It is a party of course, isn't it?"

"It should be but its not unfortunately," the head apologized as he lead both the Hokage and the monk into the house. Leaving with one last look at his grandson, Karasu left seeing his grandson playing with the young heiress, Hinata, and another boy who wore a black kimono. The three of them were laughing and running around the yard while kicking a ball around, playing like little ones should. It brought a small smile to Karasu's face, which didn't go unnoticed by the Hokage.

Even though the older members of the clan who were watching the children were frowning in a disapproving way, but one man who looked just like Hiashi was frowning with sadness. Whatever it was, Karasu couldn't tell, but his guess was that it had to do with the young boy who was laughing and playing with both Hinata and Naruto.

The meeting went into the night, and it wasn't going very well overall for both Hiashi and the Hokage. They were trying to get the performance of the cursed seal of the clan to be banished from the clan forever, but the elders' steadfast stubbornness is what kept the performance of the seal used. Apparently from what Karasu was able to understand, this was merely a gift for Hiashi's twin brother, Hizashi, to keep his own son, Neji from receiving the seal. The old monk threw in his two cents here and there in an attempt to counter the gain an upper hand in the discussion, but it was all for naught for the elders were apparently used to these kinds of discussions. 'Turning one's own flesh and blood into a slave,' Karasu bitterly thought as he stepped out of the dinning room in which the discussion took place. "What a foolish practice," the old monk muttered.

"That it is my friend," Sarutobi stated as he placed a hand on Karasu's shoulder. "But one day this practice will end, and it will end forever. I've been battling this practice with the Hyuuga's since day one of my reign as Hokage before my successor took over, and once I've returned to my seat as Hokage."

Karasu could only shake his head in disappointment, "I'm rather shocked that this clan hasn't changed it ways sooner, but I'm also afraid that both me and my grandson have worn out our welcome for this night."

"And so have I, but I'm the Kage of this village so I have more liberties then that of yourself unfortunately," the Hokage said as they stepped out into the courtyard with Hiashi in tow. "Well I must be off; I have paperwork to attend to."

"Good bye my good friend," Karasu said as he shook hands with Sarutobi. The Hokage then left through the gates and disappeared into the shadows of the night. "Hmm… we really did lose track of time didn't we Hiashi-san?"

"That we did Karasu-sama," Hiashi stated as he stood out in the night sky with the monk. "So where do you and Naruto live?"

Glancing over at the one Hyuuga who the monk respects, and then up at the sky, he said, "We live in a small temple on the outskirts of the training field that is called the Forest of Death." Hearing a gasp of surprise, Karasu mildly looked at Hiashi. "Is there a problem with that?"

Trying to compose himself, Hiashi soon stated, "Well it is a dangerous area of course, and to raise a child…"

"Like Naruto there is a good course of action," Karasu finished, interrupting Hiashi. "You of course know of his 'condition' and you probably know more then likely what the foolish people of this village think of him as." The Hyuuga clan head nodded. "Just think of him living within the village in a day to day situation. It would be terrible for one so young and inexperienced in the world to go through." Seeing that Hiashi nodded again, Karasu continued. "That and a nice simple temple is all that we need. He likes being around all the creatures that are around our home, and he gets along well with them." Noticing that Hiashi's eyes were wide as dinner plates, the monk decided to elaborate further. "Of course I am there to supervise and to make sure that nothing terrible happens to him."

"But since it is late and very dark out now, a time of the day which even you should agree with that it isn't safe for your grandson to be out at," Hiashi stated, which sounded to Karasu that he was up to something. "Why don't you spend the night?"

A bit startled at the offer, Karasu was about to refuse, but he relented, "We shall, but we will be staying for the night and breakfast before we head out for our home."

"All right," Hiashi stated as he guided the monk through the house. They soon came upon a room in which three young children were sprawled out around the floor. "They seemed to have much fun this day!"

"Indeed they did my brother," a voice from the shadows of the room said. It was soon revealed to be Hizashi, Hiashi's twin brother.

"Would you like to tell us of it?"

"They played like children, nothing else," the younger twin said with a shrug of the shoulders. "But they seemed to have become friends."

"That is good," Karasu commented as he watched the sleeping Naruto with an amused expression. For the young blonde was sprawled out on the floor and was snoring contently. "I haven't seen my grandson this happy in a long time."

"Nor have I seen my daughter this happy as well," Hiashi commented on his own daughter, who was soundly sleeping close to Naruto.

"So how did it go," Hizashi asked, changing the subject.

Hiashi sighed, "Not good at all, and Neji will be receiving the seal tomorrow at noon." Hearing this, Hizashi became depressed and sadly looked down at Neji who sleeping right next to him. "Hizashi, I am sorry about this, but we couldn't do anything about it."

Silence reigned for the moment for the two brothers, it was suddenly broken by the cough of Karasu, "That it may be, but the effort is what really counts. The elders of this clan are a tough nut to crack."

"That they are Master," Hizashi said as he gently pushed Neji off of him and got up off the floor. He then bowed at Karasu. "I thank you for your assistance in this even though you are an outsider of both the clan and the village."

"Does living here for only three short years really mean that I'm an outsider of this village," the monk asked, his eyes looking down at the younger twin. "Even though I've been living here with my grandson for those three years together, we will be always be considered outsiders no matter how long our presences are within this village." As he said this, the old monk seemed to have aged a bit, seeming more tired.

Seeing this a better time then anything else, Hiashi picked Hinata up off of the floor. "I might as well show you to your room for this night, Karasu-sama," Hiashi said as he gestured the monk to follow him. Nodding, Karasu picked his grandson up and followed Hiashi. Walking down the hallways, the adults soon come across a door which Hiashi slid open. He entered and laid his daughter on her futon and tucked her in. Upon coming out, Karasu was a bit surprised at seeing that the next room over was where both he and Naruto will spend the night. "This will be your room for the night. I know that it isn't much, but it should fit your needs." Upon sliding the door open, Hiashi was right, for there were two futons in the middle of the floor and a few other objects that Karasu didn't bother looking at right now.

"Thank you for your kindness my friend," Karasu said as he bowed with Naruto in his arms. "I don't know how we can repay you for this."

"You have done more then enough to help us change the ways of our clan this day, and this means more to me more then anything else," Hiashi sadly said which caught the old monk's curiosity. "The elders of my clan see my daughter as a weakling, and have already started to force me to teach her my family's art." Understanding, Karasu nodded, for Hinata seemed to have some form of training in the martial arts. "She isn't living up to the standards that they have set upon her due to her being my heiress. And if my wife becomes pregnant once more and the child is apparently more skilled then Hinata, then they will more then likely place the seal upon her."

Now scowling at this little fact, Karasu returned, "She is only three, just barely in her toddler years and they are already trying to turn her into a kunoichi! I am glad that I've chosen to train Naruto once he is a bit older!"

"What, you haven't even given Naruto any form of training at all yet?"

"Of course not, he is still just only a child, and children are supposed to have fun!"

"I agree with your sentiments exactly Karasu-sama, but the customs of the clan have to come first apparently, like the Seal."

Sighing, Karasu once again bowed, and said his thanks once again to Hiashi before entering the room and closing the sliding door. But through his actions with this, something seemed off to Hiashi as he walked away. 'He doesn't seem to show his age at all,' he thought as he walked further down the hallway towards his room where he met his wife already asleep.

Setting Naruto down on one of the two futons, and tucking him in, Karasu then moved towards the window, where the moon was shining brightly through. He kneeled down by it and pulled out some prayer beads. The old monk began to silently pray.

It was well into the night before a shadowy figure fell upon the compound of the Hyuuga clan, and well after Karasu finished his prayer. The figure soon entered the estate without much hassle, mainly knocking out guards that might have spotted him and hiding the bodies so it wouldn't immediately raise any kind of alarm. Stealthy moving through the hallways of the home, and checking each of the rooms as he progressed, he stumbled upon a room where he found an old monk and a young blonde brat were sleeping in. 'Not what I'm looking for,' the figure said as he dismissed them as not a threat. Moving to the next sliding door, and opening it, the figured grinned, 'Now that's what I'm looking for.' Entering the room, and picking the up the young three-year old daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi, the figure soon left the room and entered the hallway. Swiftly and silently moving towards the exit, he was soon stopped when he heard the jingle of some metal objects.

"What are you doing with the child," an aged and elderly voice said. The figure glanced back, and noticed that it was the monk, and at his side was his shakujo.

"Nothing that concerns you old man," the figure said as he turned around and faced Karasu.

"Pretty cocky for you to be here even though the Konoha and Kumo are no longer at war," Karasu stated as he identified the man before him, who is the representative from Kumogakure no Sato.

Chuckling maliciously, the Shinobi glared at the old man, "So what if it is, and now that you know who I am, I'm going to have to kill you."

Glaring at the younger man before him, Karasu stood his ground with his staff at his side. "Before you kill me, do you mind telling me what you are planning on doing with the young heiress," the monk asked with surprising calm.

"So you wish to know what I'm planning is it," the Shinobi stated as he pulled out a kunai. "Well, I and the higher ups in my village are planning on taking her eyes out Old Man!" If it was at all possible, the glare that the man was already receiving intensified. So twirling the kunai around for a moment to add some form of dramatic effect, the Shinobi soon lunged at the elderly monk.

Time seemed to slow down as the kunai was barely a centimeter away from the old mans face when all of a sudden pain flared up through the shinobi's arm. He let out an agonizing scream of pain which startled most of the residents of the estate. Falling to his knees and dropped the now semi-awake Hinata up, the Shinobi could only stare in horror at the old man who seemed to look down upon as if he was nothing at all. Then the noise of metal falling onto the wooden floorboards drew the shinobi's curiosity. That was when he noticed that the old man had grabbed onto his wrist and snapped it in one smooth motion. "What's going on," a young voice that Karasu knew too well said.

"Naruto, take your friend Hinata and get back into the room," Karasu commanded as he kept his eyes on the intruder. He could hear the soft steps of the Hyuuga's coming closer and closer as to see what was going on.

Seeing how serious his grandfather is being, and seeing this demeanor of his grandfather twice before had the young toddler help his new friend and took her back to there room without much complaints. But Hinata was confused as to what was going on, well, it wasn't like if Naruto was confused as well, but he knew his grandfather better then Hinata.

"This isn't over yet," the Shinobi muttered under his breath, trying to will the pain away and slowly reaching for another kunai. But in doing so, he was given a kick to the gut which sent him flying crashing into the wall at the other end of the hallway. He slumped down to the ground.

"It is, for you are outnumbered and outclassed by the one who said you were going to kill," Karasu said with steel in his voice as he walked up to the Shinobi. Seeing that the Shinobi was getting up and pulling out another kunai with his good hand, Karasu stood in the same place and calmly stared at the Shinobi, expecting to be attacked by the lone ninja. To say that he was surprised by the Shinobi's next action would have been an understatement, but it truly didn't matter to Karasu anyway.

The Shinobi plunged the kunai into his own heart, committing suicide. 'Fool thinks that he will get away scoff free,' Karasu thought as he amusedly watched the now dead Shinobi. 'He forgot that he told me about his plans and even then it will ruin the reputation of Kumo.'

"What is going on here," Hiashi demanded as he came upon the scene with five guards at his side. Looking over at him, Karasu explained as to what happened.

Over the next couple of days, Kumo demanded Hiashi's life despite what the Shinobi revealed to the monk, saying that it's just Konoha propaganda. And even though the body of the Shinobi was presented to them, they claimed that it's a false body. A week after these declarations, Hizashi, the younger twin of Hiashi, gave his life in the place of his own brother and was freed from the curse of the clan. But leaving behind a bitter son who now bears the same curse.

The elders also saw this attempted kidnapping as a weakness of the heiress and thought even worse of her despite her age.

The entire ordeal left Karasu feeling disgusted, and it would take more then a miracle for him to ever stand being in the presence of anyone else of the clan besides Hiashi, his wife, and their lovely daughter Hinata. Despite the fact that he was disgusted with the ordeal, Karasu was happy for Naruto, for now he has a friend to play with and hang out with.

Glancing out into the garden of the temple from the porch where he had a conveniently placed lacquered table, and sipping some tea, Karasu couldn't help but smile as both Hinata and Naruto were running around together in the garden, having fun with being together.

'Such pleasant times,' Karasu thought with a smile as he finished off the rest of his tea, and stood up while slipping on his zouri. Then he went out into the garden with the children, not knowing of the trials and tribulations to come for both of the young ones.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

At a small yet very humble temple near a very dark forest, the dawning sun shined warmly over it as a young boy of the age of twelve was sweeping the porch with a broom. His bright blonde hair could rival the suns radiance and his deep blue eyes could rival that of the sky during the daytime. His simple haori and hakama was all he wore as he swept the porch, which grumbling to himself about lazy old men who spend every morning praying.

'Damn it,' Naruto thought to himself as he just finished sweeping. 'Well, my morning chores are done, so I might as well get Gramps so we can have some breakfast before I head out for the village…' The very thought of the village unnerved the young boy for the attitudes of the village bothered him deeply, but if it wasn't for his best friend, and class, he wouldn't have even bothered with going into Konohagakure no Sato. Heading inside the temple Naruto quickly placed the broom back into the storage closest where it normally rests each day before he takes it out to sweep the porch.

Silently navigating through the simple temple, Naruto couldn't help but wonder once again why they lived in such a simple conditions when his grandfather is the best monk in the entire area. Sure the villagers begrudgingly allow the monk to perform his duties since he is on such good terms with the Hokage and Hyuuga Hiashi, the patriarch of the Hyuuga, but why? 'Probably has to do with how Gramps seems to dislike the busy day to day lives of the villagers,' the blonde boy thought as he came upon a room where a soft quiet voice could be heard. Carefully sliding the door open and crossing the threshold into the room, Naruto silently knelt down behind the elderly monk who was praying to a hanging scroll with the symbol of his grandfather's deity, who he only knows by the name of, The Dark One. "Gramps, I've finished my morning chores," Naruto softly said as his gaze remained on his grandfather whose long nose is sometimes a source of ridicule for Naruto for it isn't normal one bit.

Finishing his prayer, Karasu grabbed onto his shakujo and used it to help himself up, "Good, then how about we have some breakfast before you leave for your classes." Nodding, Naruto stood up as well.

A few minutes later, they were both sitting down at the kitchen table, and eating a simple breakfast of ramen. They ate in silence, which didn't last long before Karasu set his empty bowl to the side and set his gaze on Naruto. "Naruto, I have something very important to tell," the elderly monk said, which caused Naruto to stop eating with noodles hanging from his mouth. "Don't let food hang from your mouth while I'm talking to you young man… Better, now what I'm about to say is really not that very important overall, but it has to do with my Order."

"So it's time for the yearly gathering," Naruto stated as he sat his third bowl down. "Am I to go with you this time?"

Shaking his head, Karasu replied, "I'm sorry Naruto, but you cannot come with me as you are not a full fledged member yet."

"But why can I not come with you, I've been working my ass off to join the Order," Naruto asked as his eyes narrowed at his long nosed grandfather.

"You have other responsibilities Naruto, and you have that test coming up which will determine if you are to become a ninja of this village," Karasu stated as he felt slightly disappointed with his grandson for forgetting the one thing that he so dreamed of becoming. Sure it pleased Karasu greatly that Naruto wants to become a member of the Order, but he is still an apprentice, and would never be allowed to sit in a meeting with the heads of the many sects of the Order. "And if you must so remember Naruto, the head of the Order, Sojobo, will turn a most displeasing eye towards both you and myself if I did bring you with me!"

"So I'm not welcomed then till I become a master," Naruto summarized as he calmly began to eat his ramen once again. "So how long will this gathering last?"

"I'll be leaving today and won't return till the beginning of the next month," Karasu stated. "And I expect to come back seeing you as a strong young ninja who proudly wears the hitae-ate of Konohagakure." 'Talk about pressure,' Naruto thought to himself as he seemed to nearly choke on his breakfast. "You should do well on the Graduation Test with all that I've taught you and worked on with you."

"I should if the Ninjutsu that I'm going to be tested on isn't Buunshin no jutsu," Naruto mildly stated which had the elderly monk flush. Sure his grandfather is very skilled and taught him many things like controlling his chakra, but ninja arts aren't his area of expertise. No matter the control that Naruto possessed, he could never make a clone that could be considered somewhat decent. "I'm sure that I will do you proud Granps."

"I'm sure that you will do exactly that my grandson," Karasu kindly said with a gentle smile. Sure his grandfather may have been tough on him, but Naruto loved him either way and it was moments like these that make him love his grandfather even more. "But remember these words that I will bestow upon you." Naruto leaned towards his grandfather. "Before one can control power, one needs to control himself."

Arching an eyebrow, Naruto asked, "Care to elaborate that?"

"Care to wash the dishes?"

"Not really…"

"Ditto…"

"Touché."

"You will understand those words in due time Grandson, but until then you should be heading out to classes now."

Looking at the clock, Naruto jumped to his feet before dashing out of the kitchen and out of the front door, but only after throwing on his zouri. "Smell ya later Gramps," Naruto shouted as he ran out the door.

"Ah that boy," Karasu muttered as he scratched his bald head and collected the dishes before proceeding to wash them. "Such an energetic young boy at that, well, is there anything else that I have to do before I leave, I already told the boy's sensei, Iruka, about my whereabouts and Hiashi-san, Hiruzen-dono, and Anko-chan already know of my year trip. So I think that's about it."

A bit later that morning, Naruto came crashing through the door to his classroom and landed face first at his teacher's feet the floor straining from his fall. "Thank you for joining us today Naruto," his teacher said as he mildly looked down at Naruto. "Think you can get up and get to your seat before I toss you there myself?"

"I think that I can manage," Naruto muttered as he got up and dusted himself off before heading up to his seat which was located right next to a brooding young boy who wore a fan on the back of his shirt.

"Way to go with the entrance Dobe," Sasuke muttered as Naruto joined him.

"Shut it," Naruto quietly returned which caused him to get hit on the back of the head by a blonde haired girl who heard Naruto. "What was that for Ino?"

"Being mean to Sasuke-kun," the girl, Ino said as she stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Today class we're going to be going over…" Iruka started, which just happened to be merely a review of what they already went over in class just for the big test tomorrow. And unfortunately for Iruka, most of the class zoned out, but the only one who wasn't zoned out from what he could tell was both Hyuuga Hinata and Haruno Sakura. So he continued on with the lesson just for the two girls.

When it reached time for recess, the bell rang and all of the students but Shikamaru, Hinata, and Sasuke could not restrain themselves from running out of the room. Though, Naruto barely held himself, as he waited on for his best friend, Hinata, "Come on Hinata-chan, we're gonna be late!"

"Okay Naruto-kun," Hinata quietly said as she joined him. As they were walking down through the academy to the grounds, Hinata looked at Naruto. "Um… Naruto-kun, since the test is tomorrow, would you like to come over and study together after today's classes?"

"I would like to," Naruto said once they reached the grounds where their fellow cadets were. "But Gramps told me that I have to check out the top of the Hokage Monument since there have been some strange things going on around it as of late."

"Oh," was all Hinata said as she finally found something interesting in the ground.

"But I'll come as soon as I'm done with that," Naruto said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and not noticing the blush on her face, for she was red as a tomato. "Huh, Hinata-chan, your face is red, are you feeling okay?"

Slowly nodding and feeling a bit upset due to his denseness, Hinata slowly smiled, "Yes, I am fine, well let's have some fun before heading back for class?"

"Hell yeah," Naruto exclaimed as he started to run after Hinata as she suddenly ran off before him. "Hey wait up for me!"

"Such innocence," Iruka said to himself as he looked out of his classroom and looked down at his students in the yard. "No matter how many times this day comes, I will always wish that it never did come."

"The innocence that you seem to know is nothing but an illusion of the true innocence that they once had," an elderly voice said from the doorway. Turning around Iruka noticed that it was the Hokage. "May I join you Iruka?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," Iruka replied as he made a gesture by the window. "What do I owe for the honor to be in you're presence today Hokage-sama?"

"I was just merely walking around the academy and wanting to see how the children are doing," the old man stated.

"So you wanted to ditch the paper work."

"You could say that..."

"Okay, but what did you mean when I was talking about their innocence?"

"Iruka, the only true moment of innocence is when each and everyone one of us are born into this world. It is at that moment that every being no matter what species they may be, is innocent. And from that day, our innocence fades away. So this day doesn't harm their innocence at all for it has been fading away each and every day." Then the old man's face darkened. "For some of them lost all of their innocence on the day that they were born, or the rest of their innocence in one traumatic event."

"You are referring to both Naruto and Sasuke?" The Hokage nodded. "Then by going by your words, then you are right. The innocence that Naruto shows is but a shadow of its former self. And Sasuke, he has none at all. Is there something wrong Hokage-sama?"

"Nothing, but the innocence that you see coming from Naruto is just the very last bits of it which were saved by his grandfather, Karasu-dono. And bits and pieces of it also come from the young Hyuuga girl, Hinata."

Confused, Iruka voiced his thoughts, "But how did Karasu-sama save his innocence, and how is parts of it Hinata's?"

"Karasu-dono saved the last remnants of it by taking him under his care that day all those years ago," the Hokage explained, and knowing the day, Iruka's face saddened a bit. "But as for Hinata's part, it is part of her being, for she is by far the most innocent of them all down there. And by being Hinata's friend, than Naruto has some of it as well."

"Then what about Sasuke, people have been there for him, trying to help him and such?"

The Hokage's face darkened, "That boy is a loose cannon despite his grades and seemingly loyal behavior. For I have no doubt in my mind that if given the chance to strike down his brother, he will hurt those closest to him. Death clouds his thoughts all day and night; he will do anything and everything to reach his goal. I've asked Karasu-dono to see him many times and each time he refused his help. The boy's ambitions will not one to be trifled with in the years to come."

"Hokage-sama," Iruka stammered out, shocked by these words that his superior is saying about a young boy Sure he is still young, not even a ninja yet, but surely he can be tempered?

"It's in his eyes Iruka, that boy if pushed slightly in one direction, will do what I have said," the Hokage said as he started to leave the room. "Remember what I have told you this day and hour Iruka, for these are truths that not even you, their teacher was able to learn despite that you have been teaching them for all these years." And with those last few words, the Hokage left the room.

"So odd," Iruka mused as he looked at all of the happy, children who were about to take the test. "Yet it is a truth in the world, like everything that has a beginning will eventually end." Glancing up at the sun through the window, Iruka smiled. "Death is at the end of every life, but that just means that we have to make the best of our lives and live them to the fullest."

Sitting on the edge of the room of the academy, and staring down at children, or more specifically, the young monk in training was Mizuki. 'His grades are decent, but won't guarantee a passing grade, but he needs to be able to perform a Buunshin in order to pass, but answer some questions as well, which no one but the brightest yet less practical students could ever answer. And he has yet to show that he is capable of such skill,' the teacher thought. 'Power will be mine.' He disappeared in a burst of smoke, but with a malevolent grin on his face.

'What fools,' Sasuke thought as he looked at each and every single one of his fellow classmates. 'They will get in my way and if they do…' His line of thought trailed of when two of his biggest fan girls latched onto him and started to fight over him.

Later that day once all of the classes ended, Naruto walked with Hinata till they reached her home, which didn't take long as they ran into someone. "Hinata-sama," greeted the Hyuuga heiress older cousin. "You are home and well I see."

"Yes Neji-nisan," Hinata timidly said as she bowed a bit. "Naruto-kun was with me of course as you can see."

"That I do," Neji said as he turned around and walked away to someplace that neither of the cadets knows.

"What a pleasant way of saying hello," Naruto muttered with an annoyed tone, which caused Hinata to giggle. "No really Hinata, he has such a way with saying hello to you that it's as if he wants to really hurt."

Nodding with a frown, Hinata voiced he thoughts, "I know he does." Noticing her best friend's worried expression; Hinata gently smiled and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't worry; he won't do anything like that unless the conditions were just fine. You know that of course anyway."

"Yea, but I still don't like it," Naruto said as he started to walk away. "Anyway, I'll see you later once I've finished the job. See ya later Hinata-chan!"

"Later Naruto-kun," Hinata shouted back as she watched his retreating form, can't help about the fact that this job might be over his head.

It didn't take Naruto too long to reach the temple and get his things, a shakuhachi, a few talismans, his conical straw hat, and his shakujo which only has two rings. 'Well, I'm prepared,' he thought to himself as he stepped out of the temple with a pouch at his side containing his flute and talismans. His hat was over his eyes, and his shakujo was being used as a walking stick. 'This is probably just a minor spirit causing some trouble or something of the like.' Glancing at the sun, which was getting closer to twilight with each passing minute, he said aloud, "I wish that I could have brought Hinata-chan with me…" Even though he wished for this, he knew deep down that his grandfather wouldn't have it allowed, and that it wasn't in her best interest. The path of a ninja is fraught with peril; the same is for monks, but in a more spiritual sense where the costs are even higher.

Walking through the village and up to the top of the monument, Naruto started to search for what he was trying to find. The sun was still up as well, 'I can faintly feel traces of something here, but I can't exactly tell what it is. But something is up here of course. He could just feel it in his bones.

After wandering around the monument for a while, Naruto finally stumbled across something, a small blue blob. It looked so out of place that the young monk poked it with the end of his staff. It was soft and moved a bit before shivering and turning around to face Naruto. The thing looked like a tear drop that went up to Naruto's shin; and surprisingly had a face with two bright eyes. It was even smiling at him. "You must be the one that is causing all the trouble up here," Naruto stated as he pulled his staff back. The thing looked rather silly, but he could tell that it wasn't natural. It looked rather weak as well without either arms or legs.

Before he could banish it, a frighteningly cold shiver ran down his spine. The creature before him was looking past him at something behind him. He could hear a growl now; slowly turning around; Naruto noticed two small humanoid creatures, both with green bodies and a long devious face. 'Goblins,' Naruto thought as he dropped his instrument and assumed a fighting stance with his staff. He's fought goblins before, but that was with his grandfather there to oversee his work. Now he's on his own and against two goblins armed with clubs.

Cackling and grinning wildly as they rushed him, Naruto took a step back and brought his staff down to block the first strike. These guys were half of his already short size, and it was going to be tough to fight them both off.

After managing to parry both strikes, Naruto spun away and pulled out two talismans and quickly tossed them on the ground, apart from each other. As the goblins renewed their attack with vigor, they suddenly stopped as if they ran into a wall. Pushing themselves off of the invisible wall, they smacked it a few times before they managed to get through; Naruto finally stopped channeling chakra to the two talismans. Stumbling forward, one of the goblins was sent flying as Naruto swung his staff low. It smashed into a nearby tree. The other was fortunate enough to have fallen on its face to avoid Naruto's follow up swing. Unfortunately for the goblins, the strange creature decided to jump in at that moment and decided to attack the fallen goblin. It wasn't much of anything then slamming its soft body on the goblins.

Seeing this, Naruto tossed down two more talismans, and all four were of equal distance from the others. Glancing up, he just managed to catch the strange creature that just happened to be thrown at him. The other goblin that smashed into a tree, finally made it back to the fight; slipping the creature inside his shirt and regretting it as it was really squishy, Naruto changed his position.

The one that was on the ground began to charge the young monk, but was once again stopped by an invisible wall. Smashing its club on the barrier once again, it tried to break free when the club finally did manage to break through but just as quickly as it dropped, it was back up again. When it was going to smash it once more, the other goblin barreled into it and both met the barrier face first. "This should do it," Naruto muttered as he stood his staff on the ground and began to work his way through various hand seals. "Oh malevolent spirits, I beseech you to return to the Other World from which you came…" The talismans began to glow. "If not, then I guess Banishment is good enough for you!" Mustering all of the energy that he can pour into the technique, Naruto kept his eyes on the goblins as they frantically tried to escape the trap. A bright light matching the talismans started to glow beneath their feet before shooting up towards the sky.

Nothing remained in the trap, the goblins were gone. Seeing this, Naruto fell backwards on his back, feeling exhaustion overcoming him. 'Geez, the four barrier trap is draining enough as it is, but sending off two at the same time…,' he thought before sleep finally overcame him.

A few hours later, feeling well rested, Naruto woke up to see that the sun was rising in the east. "Shit," he shouted as he quickly collected his things and ran down back into the village to where he has to go. While doing this, he noticed that the strange creature was gone.

Sitting inside the classroom, Hinata felt depressed, for Naruto didn't show up the previous night like he said he was going to do. 'What happened Naruto-kun,' she thought as she miserably looked out at the window and at the Hokage monument, wondering what has happened to her best friend. She was truly worried for Naruto, but as to why, she has no idea. "Naruto-kun, where are you," she soon asked aloud, which caught the attention of some of the other students, especially Kiba.

"The stupid monk probably ran away knowing that he could never become a ninja," the young Inuzuka said as he sat down next to Hinata. "Besides, he has the worse Ninjutsu skills out of everyone in our class."

"That's not true, Naruto-kun is good and would never run away from this test," Hinata stammered out.

"Oh yea," Kiba said with a grin that really disgusted Hinata. "Then prove it!"

"She doesn't need to," said a voice which was besides Kiba.

Glancing over to his side, Kiba's suddenly widened to that of dinner plates. "What the, when the hell did you get here?"

"About two seconds before I decided to make my presence known," Naruto calmly said as he walked to the other side of the desk and sat down on the other side of Hinata. "Sorry about last night Hinata-chan, but the job took more out of me then what I was expecting."

Sensing that Naruto was telling the truth, but not all of it, Hinata nodded. Besides, he looked worn, tired, and dirty. She can also hear the faint rumbles of his stomach. "You missed both breakfast and dinner?"

"Yes," the young monk in training said as he laid his gear down next to the desk. "The job was different then the rest and that was for sure, I'll have to tell Gramps about it once he comes back from his trip to that gathering for the Order."

"Hey, I'm still here you know," Kiba growled out as he glared at Naruto.

"We do, but we were too busy talking about things that don't involve you Dog Breath," Naruto muttered as he mildly glanced at the other cadet who would have attacked him if their senseis didn't enter the room at that precise moment.

"This isn't over yet," Kiba whispered as he continued to glare at Naruto. "Not over by a long shot!"

"Whatever," was Naruto's reply, which caused Hinata to have a worried expression on her face as she glanced over at her best friend.

"Okay class, in order to pass the test all you need to do is," Mizuki said as Iruka went into the backroom. "Is perform a simple Buunshin no jutsu and answer some questions. We will call each and every single one of you one at a time to thoroughly test each of you. Is there any question?" No one said anything, and no sounds could be heard, but Iruka thought that he imagined hearing a nervous gulp coming in the direction of Naruto. Of course he looked like a wreck, and Kiba was smirking and taking pleasure in Naruto's obvious distress.

Hinata was also casting sidelong nervous glances at her best friend now, which caused Sakura to think, 'Oh how cute, Hinata is worried about that loser Naruto!'

'What are you going to do Naruto,' Shikamaru thought as he lazily glanced at Naruto. He didn't dislike the guy at all like the majority of the class did, for he thought it was troublesome, and his parents held Naruto in high regard due to the path he is following. From their experiences according to them, the perils that ninja's come across all the time are basically regular things that can easily happen to anyone at any time for any reason. But the perils of being a monk is higher for it deals with things on a spiritual level, but being both combines both paths together. 'You don't even look prepared to take this stupid test anyway.' Which is true of course for the young monk looked worn out and tired, if the dirt covering his body wasn't any indications if the blondes current state.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata worriedly whispered to Naruto.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, everything will be fine," the young blonde replied as he grinned, which caused Hinata to worry some more for she can easily tell that he was trying to hide his nervousness.

Sighing, Hinata thought to herself, 'Why won't you tell me your feelings Naruto-kun? Aren't we friends?'

As Mizuki started calling out names, each student entered the back room and soon left a few minutes later proudly wearing a Konoha hitae-ate. As the list started thinning out, a feeling of dread washed over Naruto, for he knows that he was in no condition at all for this test after that strange incident last night, but he doesn't want to disappoint his grandfather, the very person who raised and took care of him. He was even there when he needed him the most.

Since Hinata's name was towards the front of the list, she was called up early, and she soon came out with her hitae-ate. But as she was gone, Naruto was feeling confused and very nervous. "Naruto-kun, I know that you can do it," she said with that gentle smile of hers that seems to warm his very being.

"Like the loser can even do it," Kiba said as he got up for he was next on the list after Hinata.

"Don't listen to him Naruto-kun, for if he can do it, then you can as well," she said as she stared at Kiba. 'Did Hinata-chan just glare at Kiba,' Naruto thought with wide eyes.

Nodding, with more confidence then before, Naruto exclaimed, "Hell yea, if Dog Breath can do this, then I can easily do this!"

"Shut up Dobe," Sasuke muttered as he glared at the monk. "If you think that you can pass this test then you are in for a rude awakening when you will finally realize that you will never become a Shinobi. People like you don't deserve to become a Shinobi."

"Bastard," growled Naruto as he glared at Sasuke. But as he said that, the majority of the girls in the room glared at him, for they are part of Sasuke's fan club.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his turn soon came, after everyone else in his class were sitting in the classroom wearing their hitae-ate. He slowly walked, yet as he moved on, he dreaded each step that he took. His hand hovered over the doorknob, for what seemed like an eternity for him. He gulped as he stood before the door, contemplating what lay beyond the threshold. Before he could really get into thinking about it, the door flew open and a hand reached out and grabbed him. So sudden these actions were that he couldn't react at all.

Repeatedly blinking to try and readjust his eyes to the lack of lighting in the room, Naruto soon noticed that both Iruka and Mizuki were sitting behind a table which sat one more hitae-ate. Sitting down in the chair before the desk, Naruto nervously glanced from Iruka, to Mizuki, and the Hitae-ate's repeatedly.

"Naruto, this is your test," Mizuki said with a strange grin. "You have to answer a few questions and then perform a Buunshin no Jutsu."

'Why is Mizuki doing all the talking,' Naruto curiously thought. 'Isn't it Iruka-sensei who is the one that is administering the test?'

"Ah, is there a question that plagues your mind Naruto," Mizuki asked with a smirk.

"Um…isn't Iruka-sensei the one who is going to be giving the test," the young boy asked.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but due to your relationship with Iruka-san, it would be unfair to all of the other students," Mizuki said as Iruka nodded in addition, which seemed a bit odd to Naruto. "Is there anything else? Good, then let us begin…"

The start of the test was merely a few questions which Naruto surprisingly got right; none of the other students besides both Sakura and Shikamaru got them all right. But then it was the Buunshin no Jutsu portion of the test which is the real weight of the test. Naruto did all right with having two Buunshin's but they were poor.

Holding back from grinning in delight, Mizuki failed Naruto on that part and to actually pass, one would have to pass the Ninjutsu portion of the test. Or it wouldn't have mattered much in a normal test, but the one taking it was Naruto and the teacher was being biased, the young monk in training however didn't know this. And throughout the entire time, Iruka said nothing but stared lazily at Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you have failed," Mizuki calmly said as if he was expecting this. "Even the person with the lowest grades in the class passed with flying colors, but I guess with learning on how to be monk affected the outcome of this test."

'I… I can't believe this, all the hard work that both me and Gramps did,' Naruto sadly thought as he became depressed. He always hated to let his grandfather down and this will be one of those times.

Seeing Naruto's depressed expression, Mizuki gently smiled, "Wait a minute Naruto, but due to the condition of you training to be a monk as well as a ninja, we are willing to give you a second chance since it could affect your skills overall. So we're going to administer a more practical test for you…"

A few minutes later, Naruto walked out of the back room without a hitae-ate, but he wore a serious expression. And as he ascended up to his desk next to Hinata, he wore that goofy smile of his. "Is everything all right, Naruto-kun," she worriedly asked, and Naruto only nodded happily. Though she knew that he failed from what she could see with her byakugan. And she couldn't help but worry after she noticed that Mizuki said something to Naruto, but also, she couldn't help but wonder as to why Iruka-sensei seemed a bit off in terms of chakra…

Once the two senseis came back into the room, the class was dismissed, but only after they were told to come back in a week's time for an orientation. The class ran out of the building and into the arms of their awaiting parents and family. But young Naruto didn't have any there, but Hyuuga Hiashi was there for Hinata, and did a similar thing for Naruto like he did for Hinata, even though Naruto didn't pass. "Next time you'll get it for sure," he said to the young blonde who wore a grin, apparently up to something. Whatever it is, Hiashi couldn't tell, but he was sure that the boy was up to something due to his years of experience with having the young boy as a friend of the family. Hinata also shared the same thoughts, but kept it to herself as she sadly watches Naruto leave the school grounds with that straw hat of his and flute in his mouth. He was playing a rather sad depressing tune as he walked. "Hinata."

"Yes, Otou-san," the young heiress stammered out, for the tone he used was one that she hasn't heard in so long.

"Go to him and see what you can do to help him," Hiashi said as he started to stroll out of the yard. "He was never one to disappoint Karasu-dono, but he needs a friend now more then ever."

"What!"

"Just make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid," the older Hyuuga finished as he disappeared into the streets of Konoha.

Confused as to what to do, one part of her told her that he is fine, but the other, far more stronger part of her was yelling at her to go to Naruto and do what her father has told her to do.

She ran after her best friend.

It wasn't long before she caught up to him, since she knew where he would be going and she was able to follow him by his song alone really. But instead of walking up to him, she stayed to the shadows and started to shadow him.

About half way to the small temple, Naruto suddenly tensed up and glanced off to the side of the road, where Hinata was. "Come on out, I know your there," he called out. Trying to swallow, but she had a lump in her throat, she was about to go out, but something else beat her to the point. It was a…

"What the," she quietly muttered as she stared at the strange creature with disbelieving eyes. That and the creature surprisingly leapt onto Naruto, landing on his head.

"You again," the young blonde shouted as he tried to get the creature off of himself. Blinking in confusion for a few moments before stepping out into the light and onto the path, Hinata strolled up to the young blonde and managed to pick the creature up off of his head. "Thanks Hinata-chan." Naruto then got up off of the ground. "I owe you one…"

Hinata was just mildly staring at Naruto, he knew this look, and it never did work out quite well for him when Hinata had this look. "Why did you leave," she simply asked as she turned her attention to the white furred strange creature in his hands. "You seemed pretty content about failing the test."

"It's just a test," he replied, matching the same tone as Hinata.

"It may be, but you were working so long and hard for the test."

"I know, but second chances do happen…" 'Shit, I said too much,' Naruto thought as his eyes widened.

Raising an eyebrow out of confusion alone, Hinata let it go as she placed the creature back on the ground. "So do you want to hang out?" Her mood changed so quickly that Naruto would have been taken by surprise if he hasn't known her for so long.

"Sure, my place is up the road anyway." He then soon guided both Hinata and the strange creature to where the temple resides. Though Naruto was a bit confused as to why the creature was following them anyways, but he let it go…

For now.

"So what can I get you," Naruto said as he took off his shoes and entered the temple. Hinata did the same and followed him to the kitchen, along the way; they passed by a closest where Naruto deposited his items.

"Um… some green tea would be nice," she said as she moved out onto the porch by the kitchen which leads to the garden.

"All right then," the young monk in training said as he started brewing up some of the tea. "So why are you here and not celebrating with your family?"

"I wanted to spend the afternoon with you," she simply said, smoothly evading the fact that her father told her to be with him. She wanted to be with him of course, but she didn't really know what to do until her father gave her the boost.

"So your worried about me," Naruto simply asked, which caused Hinata to slump a bit. She was so sure that she would have gotten away with that. Moving over onto the porch and sitting down in front of her, Naruto gave her a cup of tea. He sighed. "Look Hinata-chan, seeing you here really isn't that big of a surprise, but honestly I'm fine, I'm going to become a ninja like you and everyone else in our class later."

"How later," she immediately asked, as she took a sip of tea.

"Soon enough," he calmly said as he stared out into her eyes.

"Does that have to do with what Mizuki-sensei told you after you failed your test?" That caught him off guard for sure for his eyes widened. "I was watching you while you were taking the test Naruto-kun."

"Yes it does, but don't tell anyone else, since no one but myself or Mizuki-sensei are suppose to know about it. That and Old Man Hokage."

"Is that so?"

"It is…"

"Sounds suspicious," she said as she put her cup down. Naruto was about to protest but she beat him to the punch. "Naruto-kun, I know that you don't want to disappoint Karasu-san, but would he be more disappointed if you did something stupid or something terrible."

The young blonde only snorted at what his best friend had just said, "Like I would do something that the Old Man doesn't even know about anyway!"

Hinata remained silent as she turned her gaze away from Naruto and out onto the garden, "Look, Naruto-kun, I'm just getting a bad feeling from Mizuki-sensei, and Iruka-sensei seemed off as well today." The young blonde gave her a confused look. "Iruka-sensei appeared to have too little chakra that was slowly flowing and it even seemed like he wasn't even touching anything at all as he moved."

Remaining silent, Naruto couldn't help but nod for he has noticed this as well. "But I have something to do," he said as he stood up and turned around and faced the garden. Both he and his grandfather worked hard on this patch of earth, turning it into the beautiful piece of land that lay before the two pre-teens. "I can't turn away from what I have to do, I must keep moving forward, even if it is bad and the consequences may be terrible."

"Did Karasu-san teach you that?"

"Yes, Gramps taught me that."

"That is pretty smart, but are you really willing to go through with whatever you have to do for the second chance?"

"I must live with what is done and what happens. We are all bounded by that, even the very planet itself."

"That made no sense at all…"

"I know," the monk sheepishly said as he scratched the back of his head and weakly grinned at Hinata, who only shook her head with an amused smile gracing her lips. "Well, what would you like to do?"

Hinata was about to say something, but she soon laughed at what happened to Naruto just before she was going to give him her reply. The strange creature from before somehow got into the garden and tackled Naruto to the ground despite its size, and now its rubbing its face on the boys face without any mercy at all. It looked very cute to Hinata as she watched the scene.

Once the strange creature got off of the young boy, said boy soon gave chase to the strange creature. Even Hinata joined the chase, but only after she calmed herself down or she would have been laughing the entire time. As she gave chase along side with Naruto, she giggled while her friend was laughing and the strange creature was smiling broadly.

They remained playing games with each other for hours till night has fallen. But by then the trio moved into the temple where both the strange creature and Hinata were sleeping on a futon that Naruto placed her in. He silently looked over her sleeping form before walking out of the room and collecting his things from the closest. He stiffened as he heard something behind him, so glancing over his shoulder, he noticed that it was the strange creature, so he ignored it and took his things out of the closest.

Advancing towards the front door, Naruto slipped his zouri on and then moved out into the night sky.

While he was doing this, the strange creature slipped into the room where Hinata was sleeping in and started to rub against the young Hyuuga heiress's face until she woke up with a grimace. Noticing her surroundings and easily concluded that it was nighttime and that she was within the very familiar guest room of the temple. Stepping out of the room and looking around the temple, Hinata immediately noticed that something was off, 'Where's Naruto-kun?' But as she came to the front entrance, she gasped and slipped on her own pair of zouri and then ran out into the night air as well.

Heavy panic breathing can be heard within a darkened hallway within the Hokage Tower. A lone figure stood while another was on the ground with a pool of blood around it. "Okay, I managed to knock him out, but why was he curious as to why I am here, doesn't he know about the test," Naruto asked himself as he stared wide eyed at the Sandaime Hokage. He used a simple jutsu that he developed after he discovered one of his grandfather's secret hobbies, which involved heading to the local bathhouses.

Odd as it may be, Naruto found his grandfather, and his colleague, perversely giggling as they were peeping on a few women. At the time Naruto didn't know what they were doing so he joined them, but he soon fell back in shock and felt blood dripping down from his nose. Glancing over at the older men, he soon discovered that they both had blood dripping down their noses as well. The older men were so into what they were doing that they didn't even notice Naruto or his actions at all, until they heard a small pop sound and a soft husky voice. Turning around, blood exploded from Karasu's nose, and causing him to lose consciousness from the loss of blood. But the other monk, Pervy Monk, leapt onto the transformed Naruto and tackled him, but after a very short second, the older men smacked Naruto and his jutsu was immediately dropped.

The young monk still remembers the punishment he received from the older men for pulling such a trick. He also never showed this to Hinata, thankfully, but for this to work on the Hokage…

"It might be too effective," Naruto muttered aloud as he stepped over the unconscious old man and soon entered the old mans office. He came out of the room a few minutes later with a very large scroll strapped to his back. "Okay, off to the meeting place!" As he leapt out of a window and into the shadows of the night, but due to his escape, and his lack of attention, he didn't notice a shadow silently chuckling to himself as it watched what he did.

One other shadow saw him, but gasped out of shock as she noticed that Naruto came out of a window in the Hokage Tower with a large scroll that she knew well enough that it didn't belong to the young monk. Then the said shadow soon gave chase to Naruto.

While the shadow was giving chase to Naruto, the village erupted in a roar of noise as word spread like a wildfire through the village about what Naruto did.

It wouldn't be for another hour or so before Hinata managed to find Naruto in a clearing in a forest by an old run down shack. The young blonde managed to hide his tracks surprisingly well, and the distance of her eyes could only see so far. She found him disheveled and tired, with a large scroll opened before him, but he wore a grin unlike anything else. Carefully walking up to Naruto, Hinata soon sat down in front of him in a cross legged position. "Naruto-kun," she greeted. "What are you doing here and what's with that scroll?"

Blinking in confusing, and looking at Hinata, Naruto was clearly shocked at his lack of attention to find that she was in front of him. "Um… Mizuki-sensei said that if I can manage to learn at least one jutsu on this scroll then I would be able to become a gennin," he said but soon to regret it as he heard someone looming overhead them. Glancing up he became really nervous.

Noticing this, Hinata looked up and said with a gasp, "Mizuki-sensei!"

"What did I tell about letting out your missions objectives Naruto," the man said with a glare at Naruto. "You leaked valuable information that led to the downfall of the mission. So you fail!"

"But I learned something from the scroll and it's only Hinata-chan," Naruto exclaimed as he stood up. "She's my friend and I know that I can trust her!"

"But I can't," Mizuki quietly said which was heard by Naruto. Before either of the young ones knew what happened, Mizuki was behind Hinata with his large shuriken raised. "And she needs to be removed along with the Demon!" Thus Hinata entered the world of dreams through a painful lose of consciousness courtesy of the flat side of Mizuki's shuriken. "Now it's your turn little demon fox!" Unlike what he did with Hinata, he struck out at Naruto with the sharp edges of the shuriken. But his forward thrust was suddenly stopped when Naruto blocked it with his staff. "Take this!" A gasp of pain could be heard throughout the clearing as Mizuki viciously kneed Naruto in the stomach, and during this moment, the teacher tried to throw Naruto onto the ground but only managed to push him down onto the ground. Pushing one foot down on young monk's chest to hold him down, Mizuki prepared his shuriken for the finishing blow.

"Why," Naruto gasped out through the pain as he could barely see Mizuki's face within the shadows of the night. "Why are you doing this?"

"There are two reasons why I'm doing this Demon," Mizuki said as he grinned at the downed boy. "One is because I seek power, the kind of power that a sennin possesses."

"And what's the other reason?"

"I'll be called a hero when I head back to Konoha. The man who slew the beast that the great Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, failed to accomplish." Seeing confusion on the young boys face, Mizuki sadistically grinned down at him. "So you honestly don't know then do you? That stupid 'grandfather' of yours didn't tell you at all?"

"No one calls my grandfather stupid," Naruto growled out as he tried to push the bigger man off of him.

That was when Mizuki started to chuckle darkly. "I can't believe this, even the stupid old monk abided to the stupid law that Hokage-sama instated. This is too good to be true!" Then looking down at Naruto, Mizuki's voice became smug, a quality that Naruto hates, just like his grandfather, Karasu. "Well let me tell you this. Have you ever wondered why everyone looks at you eyes so filled with hatred?"

Nodding slowly, Naruto stated, "That's because I'm not just following the way of the ninja!"

"Wrong," Mizuki shouted as he pressed down on Naruto's stomach with his foot. "It's because you are a demon, the very demon that killed the Yondaime, the greatest of all the Hokage's! He couldn't kill you but managed to give you the body of a child so that we can slay you. Hokage-sama didn't want to see you dead because you managed to make him believe that you were just a boy. And if it wasn't for that meddling grandfather of yours, you would have been dead long ago." Mizuki took great pleasure in seeing the torment within the boy's eyes.

"No, no, no," Naruto muttered, not wanting to believe what the chuunin was saying was true. But somewhere deep inside him, knew what he spoke was true for it made complete sense. Other monks that Naruto met over the years were respected for there skills, not hated for learning the ninja arts. Nor were they tormented from the first day that they can remember. "You lie, Gramps would have told me. He would have told me!" Tears were now streaming down Naruto's eyes.

"Ah but I'm not lying Naruto-kun, because if I was, what would be the purpose of me telling you this now?" He got Naruto there of course, he would have simply killed him by now, and not simply torturing him. Finally seeing this, Naruto stopped squirming underneath the teacher's weight.

"Oh, giving up now are we Naruto-kun," a new voice said. "That isn't like you at all. If Karasu-san saw you like this he would be _very_ disappointed with you."

Snapping his head at the source of the voice, Mizuki saw the shadowy figure of a small man, a small monk to be precise, wearing a gasa. "Who are you?"

"Pervy Monk," Naruto gasped out in surprise upon seeing the familiar figure of his grandfather's friend who seemed to chuckle at the nickname. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that Naruto-kun, and is this a friend of yours? Anyway, allow me to make a correction the fool's statement. Kyuubi wasn't sealed into the form of a child; he was sealed inside of one. You are the jailor of the demon!"

"Your next after I kill this demon old man," Mizuki exclaimed as he brought down the shuriken onto Naruto's face. He felt immense pain from his butt. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a strange black fox that was biting his rump. "What the…"

This distraction was all that Naruto needed as he smashed his staff into the head of the older man. The hit stumbled the chuunin a bit, but it wasn't enough of a blow to knock him off.

As Mizuki struggled to finish off Naruto and to get the strange fox off of him, he didn't notice Naruto's darkened expression. "I will not lose to scum like you," he quietly stated as he glared at Mizuki with so much hatred that it froze the older man in place long enough for Naruto to hurl Mizuki off of him. "Now I'll make you regret ever having me steal the Scroll of Seals."

"Oh yea, I can easily take whatever you throw at me little demon," Mizuki arrogantly shouted as he strange fox vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"How about a thousand of me," Naruto roared as he formed a hand seal. With a raging burst of his chakra, the clearing was filled to the brim with countless copies of the young boy.

"Amazing," the elder monk praised as what he saw truly impressed him. "I knew you had it in you Kit!"

"What the, Kage Buunshin," Mizuki stammered as he noticed that he was surrounded by more then a hundred Naruto's.

"So, are you ready now," the Naruto's exclaimed with a smirk. "Because I know that I am!"

"Mommy," Mizuki quietly stammered out with his eyes wide as dinner plates before he was ruthlessly pummeled into submission by the hundreds of Naruto's. By the end of the one sided beating, Mizuki was a bloody mess, and twitching every now and then. Once the beating ended, the clones dispelled in a puff of smoke, leaving Naruto standing over the broken man.

The old man, Pervy Monk was clapping, "Very good Naruto, very good indeed, I see that you have improved greatly." He got up from his seat on the ground and walked up to the young monk in training, but stopped when he noticed Naruto glaring him at him. "Now what's with that look?"

"You knew as well, didn't you," Naruto quietly said as he stood his shakujo up.

The short old man nodded, "There isn't much that I don't know Kit."

"Then is it true?"

"Yes," the old man replied with a sigh.

"Then why didn't he tell me?"

"Because he felt that you weren't ready to know such information yet."

"Why did he feel that way then if he knew?"

"How about I ask you a question Kit," Pervy Monk asked with a sigh. "What would you have done if your own grandchild had a being of such power and hatred sealed inside of them?" The younger monk remained silent. "See my point, its not one that any one would like to talk about."

"Fine, but why are you back in town?"

"Your grandfather asked me to check on you from time to time while he is away on his trip to meet with those of the Order," the old man said as he walked over to look over Hinata. "Such a pretty vixen you have here Kit, what's her name?"

"Hinata," Naruto replied as he bent down next to her. "Will she be fine?"

"A bump on the head is all she has and will feel when she wakes up Kit," Pervy Monk stated as he turned around and faced Mizuki, and wrinkled his nose. "Tainted by a snake I see."

"What should we do with Mizuki-sensei?"

"Let Sarutobi-san handle him, he did break a few laws this night of course," Pervy Monk explained as he hefted the chuunin up over his shoulders. It was a funny a sight of course for a small man, who's barely shorter then Naruto, to be lifting a much taller person.

"Same old pervy monk," Naruto said with a sigh as he gathered his things and strapped the Scroll of Seals onto his back. Once he finished doing that, he hefted Hinata up into his arms and began to follow his grandfather's friend back to the village.

It would be discovered much later the next day that Mizuki was sentenced to life in prison and Naruto would get off scoff free and as a proud graduate of the Konoha Ninja Academy. It was also discovered while the messengers were sending out messages to the ninjas of the village to search for Naruto, that one of the messengers stumbled upon Iruka who was trapped within a powerful genjutsu and tied up in his own closest.

Hinata stayed at home that day, and Naruto was by her side to make sure that she was fine after that entire ordeal. As news of her participation within the event reached the council, the frowns that they normally wore in her presence deepened to a new level.

It was also during this time that Naruto reflected upon the new knowledge about himself that everyone, including his own grandfather has kept hidden from him. It seemed ridiculous at first, but with the Pervy Monk there, it made more sense to him. In hindsight as well, he couldn't help but feel that despite this new revelation, that his grandfather has been slowly guiding him in regards to him being the jailor of the most demon in the world.

"_Before one can control power, one needs to control himself"_

'Maybe, just maybe, Gramps was preparing me for this.'


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

It's been a week since Karasu returned to Konoha. A week since he heard about the plot by Mizuki and the details of Naruto's career as a ninja. Three weeks since Naruto left for the Wave Country. It made the old man feel uneasy, he's been uneasy the entire time since he left for his trip more then a month ago since he first caught wind of some news from his friend who he asked to check in on Naruto.

Most of the news was not pleasing for the elderly monk's ears; especially the news about his grandson allowing himself to be manipulated into being a pawn in some scheme. Not only did he endanger himself, but Hinata as well! Looking back over the situation as he walked through the marketplace, he couldn't help but feel that he might have been a major factor in the situation that happened. He can admit to himself with many years of experience behind him that he may have pressured his grandson, who thinks the world of him, too much in trying to pass the test and becoming a ninja.

He wasn't expecting however to have to explain about the demon that was sealed inside of him for a few more years, or at least until he felt that the boy was mature enough to handle the information. Giving the boy what he needed the most, and subtly preparing him to handle his burden hasn't been easy. The boy deserved a normal life like anyone else; he is a human like everyone else in the village.

So lost in thought, he was shocked as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Old Man, how ya doing," greeted Konoha's most lively kunoichi.

"Ah Anko-chan, what a surprise," the old man returned with a smile as he looked over at the young woman. "It's been a stressful the last couple of days. How about you, has your seal been acting up?"

"I've been fine," Anko said as she began to fall into place with Karasu as he continued to walk through the marketplace. "It's just a pain in the ass like usual."

"Hmm… I can take a look at it now if you want. I know that our appointment isn't until tomorrow, but it looks like you were already planning on just that weren't you." Glancing at the young woman, Karasu couldn't help but grin as Anko sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Ah still impatient as ever I see; not even becoming a jounin help stamp that out of you!"

"You got me there Old Man." Anko chuckled as they continued on; leaving the marketplace for the path that will lead towards Karasu's temple. As they walked, they went over many topics, ranging from troublesome youth, which Anko laughed away, all the way to how her missions have been going since they last met.

Strange as it may seem, among the people in Konoha, none stand out more to Anko then the old monk. He's always been there for her, offering her a helping hand, an ear to listen to, and a shoulder to cry on since that day eleven years ago. The day when Orochimaru betrayed Konoha and most of all, her; the day when he gave her that cursed seal of his. Sure the old monk has made himself available to Konoha, like the Fire Temple monks, but few go to him because of his grandson. It's a shame though; the old monk was so much more helpful then those other monks who barely hold any skills related to being a monk outside of living in a temple.

Amusing each other with whatever happened to cross their minds, they soon came within sight of Karasu's temple. "Hmm… looks like I have a guest," the old monk mumbled as he stared at the figure of a scruffy man sitting on the porch with his back against one of the columns next to the entrance, drinking from what Anko could only assume is a jar of sake. From where they stood, she could tell that the man was wearing a well worn kosode and hakama whose colors faded with what she could only assume from time and travel. It was hard to distinguish much else about the vagabond from where they were, but it became clearer as they neared him. "Hello, my name is Karasu, and this is my temple. How can I help you today?"

The scruffy vagabond looked at Karasu before giving a quick glance towards Anko who managed to catch a glimpse of dull lifeless brown-eyes. Even though his eyes seemed a tad off, he was a bit handsome, definitely more then Gai. "Yea Gramps, mind telling me why Pervy Monk _asked _me to come and see you," the man asked as he got up obviously annoyed for some reason.

This greeting seemed to have left Karasu speechless as Anko could see him trying to mumble words, though it confused Anko as to who this Pervy Monk person could be. "Is it really you…?"

"Yea, it's me Gramps," the man said as he began to approach the duo. "It's me Jhadow."

Not knowing what is going on in the monks head, Anko was shocked to see tears spilling down his eyes as he dropped the bag of groceries that he kept in one hand and rushed forth to meet Jhadow face to face. "Stupid Hatchling," the old monk shouted as rage soon overcame his mind and swung his staff around and smash it into the mans gut, sending him flying into the temple, smashing through the sliding door.

The hyperactive kunoichi couldn't help but grin at the display of power from the old monk. It was odd to see him so emotional over anyone but Naruto, so it was nice to see this for once. Though Anko couldn't help but feel that during the violent flight, that the man gave Karasu a double dose of the Finger. "Fuck you," the man shouted from the interior of the temple.

After some time, the three people sat down in kitchen area of the temple, with Karasu serving tea. "Hatchling, this is Anko-chan. Anko-chan, this is… Jhadow, my grandson."

Now that was curious indeed to the kunoichi, she had no idea that Karasu had any other grandson then Naruto. Actually, now that she thought about it, she didn't really know much about him besides what he's been doing since he came to Konoha all those years ago and that he's a member of the Order. "Pleasure to meet you Anko-han," Jhadow said as he held an ice pack to his head as he glared at the older monk.

"Same here," Anko said as she stirred her tea. "So just like Naruto, your Karasu's grandson as well. That is interesting, does the kid know about this?"

"Naruto?"

"He doesn't know," Karasu answered. "Jhadow… it's been many years since we've last met; much too long. My old heart always did look fondly over the past when it was just me and you on that mountain; except for the one time when you stabbed me in the back!"

"Hey, you're the one who challenged me you stupid old man!"

"And I didn't mean for you to literally stab me!"

"You just had to push my buttons!"

"You were prolonging our bouts!

"And that was because I enjoyed them!"

"And I was trying to raise you to become a strong warrior!"

"Congratulation's there Gramps. Now who is this Naruto kid?"

"Oh just your cousin…"

"I see… So how far along have you come in training him?"

"He's come pretty far in the fighting arts, and doing well with both barriers and banishments; but his ninja skills are questionable at best."

"Ninja skills, what are you doing with those?"

"We are in a ninja village Jhadow… Anko-chan is one of Konoha's top ninja."

Flushing from the praise, Anko couldn't help but question the man, "How did you not know you were in Konoha?"

"Konoha..." the words sounded foreign to his tongue, but he seemed a tad nostalgic from what the kunoichi could tell. "Well I was walking in a mountain and I ended up here. Been waiting for Gramps to show up for about an hour before you guys came." A grin soon split his face as he glanced over at the monk. "So Gramps, tell me, since when did you manage to hook up with such a beautiful woman? I could have sworn that you only chose to simply take time and sneak off to bathhouses to watch women bathe?"

The young kunoichi could only smile as the sides of her lips twitched at the thought. In a split second, two kunai flew out of her hands and grazed Jhadow's face as they flew through the air. He didn't even wince as she was sure those would have stung, but after a few seconds, his eyes widened in horror as he looked at her. It pleased her to no end just to watch his stupid face as she twirled another kunai around her finger.

Sighing, Karasu decided to interrupt this spectacle. "Anko-chan, I would refrain from trying to either cripple or intimidate… Jhadow. His timing is quite fortuitous if I must say so."

"Why is that Old Man?"

"Even though he is my stupid grandson, he is the one who taught me everything that I know about Seals."

The long walk home seemed even longer to Naruto. Casting fearful glances around himself and his teammates, as if something was going to take them all, the young monk couldn't help but hold himself tightly.

It was but just a few days ago when they finished the practical part of the mission. Subdued the missing ninja, and saved the Wave Country. As happy as he should be for accomplishing his first C Ranked mission ever, he couldn't feel anything but anxiety, fear, and hopelessness. He remembers quite clearly the power, the overwhelming intoxicating power that burst forth from the very core of his being. The power that overwhelmed his opponent as if he was but a newborn baby and it frightened him.

As terrible as that power felt when he needed it most when he saw Sasuke fall to that fake hunter-nin, it felt like the most wonderful thing that he had ever felt before in his life. Even though the sight of Sasuke full of needles and lying on the ground, in a death-like state, filled him with rage, just feeling that raw primal power felt much better than being praised for a job well done by his grandfather. As he easily overpowered the hunter-nin, Haku, he began to realize that he was slowly losing himself to it; it may have surfaced due to his rage, but he could tell that as time went on, the rage had a mind of its own, and it had its own plans.

When he first heard that he had a demon sealed inside of him, he never really put much thought to it, thinking that it was well contained with whatever seal that was placed on him by the Yondaime Hokage. He wouldn't be dealing with issues from it since their have been none his entire life; but feeling them for the first time now, and actually enjoying the feeling of his fist smashing into Haku's face with a sickening crunch made him realize something. The fox wasn't as far away as he had believed it to be. Once he realized what was going on with the fight, he managed to snap out of the power, and began to chant prayers of purity in the face of his enemy who felled Sasuke. As much as he hated the boy with all of his being, he could not afford to let the fox overwhelm his being much more. It left Haku looking at him like he was an idiot before he ran off and threw himself in between both his sensei, Kakashi, and the missing-nin, Zabuza.

Even though it was dangerous, he had to do it; he has a demon inside of him. At the risk of the enemy killing him, he had to make sure that the fox under control. To Naruto, dying was more preferable then allowing such a monster loose upon the world once again.

The last couple of days have gone by a blur, he doesn't even know how the battle on the bridge ended; only that Haku died, and Zabuza ripped his boss's head off before succumbing to his own wounds. He spent most of his day, meditating, trying to quell his fears and to keep the fox under control; despite not really knowing how to do this. His sensei understood what he was doing, yet both Sakura and Sasuke couldn't; the two of them not knowing of his heavy burden, and Kakashi dared not speak much of what he was doing in front of them. His two teammates felt that he was a cowardly weakling for not training or doing anything at all to contribute to the mission after the battle on the bridge.

He was afraid of what he could do, and of becoming a monster himself.

It wasn't long before the team crossed through the gates of Konoha. Aware of what the town might do to him, he became even more afraid, of not just what was inside of him, but what the villagers might do. They haven't openly done anything before, but he was sure that they might have tried stuff before in the past; and with how he is feeling now, he couldn't help but feel uneasy, especially after what happened.

Hesitating just over the threshold of the village, Naruto lowered his hat over his eyes, trying to look as inconspicuous as he can. Not like it would help much though with his trademark items, his staff and shakuhachi that both him and grandfather are known for carrying around with them in public.

Seeing this, his sensei came over and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Naruto, why don't you go home, we can take care of the mission debriefing? The last couple of days have been hard on you most of all, so take the rest of the day off and be with Karasu-sama; I'm sure that he must be back by now."

Looking up at the older man, Naruto couldn't help but ask after casting a sidelong glance at his fellow genin, "Are you sure Kakashi-sensei?" Both of his teammates looked annoyed at the treatment that Naruto was receiving from their sensei.

"Its fine Naruto, we can handle this and I'll be sure to fill you in once we're done." Seeing that it was okay with his sensei, Naruto took off to head home, walking as quickly as he could, being careful to avoid people in his rush to see his grandfather and finally have the much long awaited talk that has been on hold for nearly thirteen years.

"Sensei, why did you send Naruto off and not us," Sakura asked, annoyed at the man for granting the stupid monk permission to leave. "He didn't do nearly as much as the rest of us and Sasuke-kun was nearly killed during the battle!" Sure she forgot to mention that Naruto saved her from the two Demon Brothers and then saved Kakashi from Zabuza's jutsu. Not to mention that he even helped both her and Sasuke with the tree-climbing exercise that Kakashi had them do.

"Whatever, it just shows that he's a cowardly weakling," Sasuke muttered before continuing on towards the Hokage Tower. Completely forgetting about how Naruto was the most physically strongest on the team, especially after his performances regards to taijutsu. Not waiting for an answer, Sakura ran after her crush to catch up to him and ask him out again for the two-hundredth time this year.

Sighing, Kakashi couldn't help but think that just because Sasuke was placed into a death-like state, doesn't mean that he should be sent home. After the debriefing, he was sure to drop the Uchiha off at the hospital to make sure that everything is all right with him. It's nothing compared to what happened to Naruto on the bridge, coming face to face with the demon that was sealed away within him for the first time in years, and facing it's rage. The kid isn't in the right state of mind, and seeing his grandfather, who is one of the most respected men in Konoha, next to the Sandaime Hokage, should be of more help then having to sit through the debriefing. 'The awakening of the Sharingan in Sasuke probably blinded him to that now and feeling even more superior then he did before' Kakashi speculated as he eyed the young Uchiha.

Seeing that his two students were getting quite a lead ahead of him, he decided to continue on as well; making a special note to not be _too_ late in visiting Naruto later. It was getting late in the day, and the sun was sure to set in a while.

"So you have a _cursed _seal of sorts on you," Jhadow asked as he began to kneed some dough which impressed Anko as she washed the food. Having spilled onto the ground after the Old Man dropped it to smash his staff into the younger man demanded that most of the products had to be cleaned.

Seeing that this is a reunion of sorts for the two men, Jhadow offered to cook dinner for them that evening so they could catch up and learn more of what is going on; especially with her own condition. Even though Karasu is technically the host, Jhadow didn't seem to trust his grandfather's ability to cook; much to the Old Man's annoyance, but only assented that Jhadow's claim to being a better cook was true.

After explaining that the younger man was much more knowledgeable in the field of seals and could potentially help her more then he could ever had done despite being there for her for so long. Karasu politely excused himself, after apologizing to Anko about the change of plans. She understood, but held her own reservations on the matter at hand; all of a sudden, the Old Man dumped her onto another person, a complete stranger no less who only showed up in town roughly an hour before! It was like one doctor leaving with a completely new doctor!

"Yes, I do have a cursed seal," Anko stated as she washed a potato. "It was given to me many years ago by my _sensei_."

"Bastard of a man?"

"Orochimaru? Yea, he's a real bastard of a man." Glancing over at the man, as he began to work the dough into a flat circular shape; not even looking at her with those lifeless eyes of his. "Out of the ten children he placed his Seal of _Heaven_ on, only one survived; me!"

Now she got a response out of him from that. He began to massage his temple over the flattened dough. "Sounds like you were part of an experiment. Does this seal enhance your abilities somehow?" She nodded. "Hmm… well this would probably explain why Gramps hasn't been able to remove it. Anyway, we can discuss more of this later after I review some of Gramps notes and take a look at your seal. Where is it located anyway?"

Instead of telling him, she decided to show him instead. Since the seal was at the base of her neck where it meets her left shoulder, she turned around and pulled down her coat and shirt just enough to show it to him. "Doesn't look like much, but it's a bitch. The bastard gave me a hickie that hasn't left after all these years."

Looking at it with a casual, yet curious glance, his eyes didn't advert from the seal much to Anko's surprise. Most men would have normally tried to get more of an eyeful of her breasts after showing some more skin, but he didn't. "So Anko-han, how is it being a kunoichi? I'm sure that you must have your fair share of adventures since your one of the top ninja's in Konoha."

Grinning, Anko replied, "Oh yes, its lots of fun. I get to have lots of fun making blood spill from my opponents. Even when I get to tease men just so that I can overpower them and ram a very well concealed kunai into their faces!"

Looking her in the eyes, her light brown eyes meeting his dull lifeless brown eyes, he smirked. "Just what I'd expect from a kunoichi; a life of adventure and lots of blood spilled."

"So what do you do? Are you some kind of travelling monk part of the Order?"

His chuckle caught her off guard. "I guess you could say that, but I'm more of a wandering jack-of-all trade who travels around a lot and doing odd jobs here and there for my boss. For me knowing so much about seals, well if you've been around for as long as I have and seen the things that I have as well, you'd pick up quite a few things."

Blinking a few times with a raised eyebrow, Anko couldn't help but feel that the man who looked only a few years older then Ibiki, made himself seem much older then that. "So what was it like with the Old Man?"

The man looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well…"

Sitting on the front step, with a jar of sake, Karasu looked out towards the path that led away from the temple. Ever since he returned from his trip and didn't have any obligations to take care of, he would sit here, watching the path, waiting for his youngest grandson to come home. He was very anxious about this, unlike the man inside, which he raised as well; this is the first time that Naruto would have travelled outside the village without him. The missions that the ninja of this village take on are dangerous, even if he was with a team led by Hatake Kakashi himself; there is always the slight chance that he might not come back.

'It is so much different from before,' the old monk thought as he took a swig of sake to calm his nerves and relax a bit. Without a glance, he began to pet the strange creature that was aimlessly roaming the temple when he came home. "To think that the boy would pick up a Slime of all things as a pet and name it as is without any prior knowledge of them."

He knew about the Slime from his old friend, but was surprised to learn that his youngest grandson named it Slime. It was strange, but it was amusing since Naruto had no prior knowledge of this creature to begin with, of that he was sure of. Slime was a friendly little guy who kept him some company. Thinking back on his grandson's decision to take care of the critter, Karasu couldn't help but sigh, knowing that he had to talk to Naruto about this; but only after they settled everything else first.

Keeping his gaze on the path that leads to the village, Karasu smiled as he sees a familiar sight of blonde hair. Getting up, he began to walk to Naruto; yet now he notices his grandson's appearance. Those fearful nervous eyes, that haunted look, it frightened the old monk more then anything else that he had ever experienced. Hurrying to the boy, who finally notices him, Karasu throws his arms around Naruto and brings him into a hug. The boy flinched in his arms, "Tell me what happened?"

Naruto didn't know what to say or where to begin; he just stood there, fearing this moment. After a few moments of the tense silence, he finally said, "The Fox…"

That was all Karasu needed to hear to understand what has happened. He led Naruto to the steps where he was just sitting and sat him down. Side by side, Karasu took a swig of sake and offered Naruto some. The boy refused it, looking down at the ground below his feet. "You're fearful of the Fox aren't you?" His grandson nodded. "Afraid of what his influence could do to you?" Again the boy nodded. "Tell me, how did it feel to you?" Naruto told him exactly what happened on that fateful bridge, how he saw his teammate Sasuke _die_ and the rage that he felt for the enemy at that moment. Of how the power rushed through his body, of how it wonderful it was to feel that power coursing through his veins, of how he felt when he easily overpowered his enemy…

"You didn't prepare me for this," Naruto said as he finished his tale. "You kept this from me all my life. I understand how hard it must have been, but couldn't you have tried more to help prepare me for this!" Anger and frustration rising as he balled his fists, not daring to look at his grandfather's eyes. "The bastard fox tried to control me!"

Karasu released the sigh that he was holding as he took another swig. "Naruto, there is only so much that I could have done to prepare you for…"

"Bull Shit," his grandson roared, spittle spraying the old monk as Naruto finally faced him. "You follow The Dark One, the master of all darkness! You could have helped me with this; you could have helped me keep the fox under…" Naruto's rant stopped as his face stung. Looking at his grandfather with wide eyes, Naruto was stunned; not once had his grandfather ever outside of training ever hit him like that before. Sure he was and still is a rambunctious kid thanks to his absurd amount of energy and Anko's own influence when she came over and babysat him when he was younger; but never before had he been hit before like that. As he was slowly coming out of his stupor, he finally noticed the sorrowful eyes that his grandfather had.

"Never speak out about me and what I could do," Karasu calmly said as he brought his hand back to his side. "I know better then anyone else of what I am, and not capable of. I've been preparing you for this. As far as Jinchuuriki's go, consider yourself lucky! You have one of the most advanced seals ever to be used for the containment of a Bijuu! Others have to live fear that their Bijuu would rise and take over their bodies! Your seal in its conception was aided by the Spirit of the End himself! Be grateful for what you have!" Naruto was speechless, not knowing what to say in response. Seeing this, Karasu continued, though gentler now. "Do you remember what I said before I left for the meeting?"

"Before one can control power, one needs to control himself"

"Exactly, you need more control over yourself if you ever wish to be able to control the demon within." Smiling now, he placed his hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair. "Besides, you are still young, only twelve years old, to have perfect control over yourself takes _many_ more years of practice and self-discipline." Sniffing, Karasu glanced through the ruined entrance, "Come Naruto, seems like dinner is ready." Standing up, he gestured for his grandson to follow.

Naruto complied, shrugging his pack onto one shoulder, and just as he crossed over the threshold into the temple, he blinked in confusion as he noticed the ruined sliding door. "What happened here?"

Without missing a beat and continued heading towards the kitchen, his grandfather only said, "Unexpected guest."

Finally smelling the food, Naruto found it odd that it was cooking on its own while he grandfather waited for him outside. Rushing off to his room to deposit his pack and gear, Naruto paused once more, still upset about earlier. He knew the old monk was right, he is still young and can't be expected to have complete mastery of his body, but it gnawed at him. If he wanted to be part of the Order, it was something that he needed to do, especially now more then ever with the revelation pertaining to his secret burden. Naruto knew that he needs to control over his own emotions more then before, not bottle them up and become emotionless, but to make sure that they don't overwhelm him like they did before back on the bridge.

"Naruto get your butt over here," his grandfather shouted from the kitchen. "We have guests!"

Head picking up in excitement to see who it is all thoughts of dinner cooking on its own and the demon within him, faded from his mind as he rushed towards the kitchen. Upon entering the room, Naruto noticed the familiar faces of both Anko and his grandfather. He paused once he noticed the unfamiliar face of a man who was serving dinner. "Hello," Naruto said as he quickly sat down next to his grandfather at the small square table, across from Anko.

"Naruto, I know that you know Anko-chan," Karasu began as he gestured towards the kunoichi. "I'd like to introduce you to your cousin… Jhadow. Oh how long has it been since I last laid my weary eyes on this."

"Too long Gramps. Hey kid," Jhadow said as he was putting the finishing touches to the meal. From what Naruto could tell, it looked almost like a pie with an odd red sauce and melted cheese over it. The man's eyes seemed odd to Naruto, but also add to the fact that they bore no resemblance to one another, and he looked even older then Kakashi-sensei! Once again surprise and shock was written right across the young monks face, noticing this, the man chuckled. "I'm your cousin all right just as Karasu is your grandfather, he is mine as well."

"Hey Runt, how's it going," Anko said with a grin as she looked over the young genin. "Heard you had yourself a C-Rank mission, how did it go?"

He went into exaggerated detail of how awesome he was at the beginning of it, but it teetered off towards the end when he came to the incident on the bridge.

Anko grinned, "Way to go Runt. Good job by the way. Not many genin normally get a C-Rank, let alone a B-Rank." Glancing over at the old monk, she saw him nod, while Jhadow was just happily humming some tune indifferently to conversation that was taking place. "What is this again Jhadow, it looks like a pie?"

"It is a pie," the man answered as he sat down at the table across from Karasu. "It's a type of pie that I picked up on my travels called Pizza. It's been a long time since I've cooked it, so I hope that you all enjoy it."

"Hey this is pretty good," Naruto said as he took a few bites out of his slice. "But not as good as ramen!" Even though he felt the jab at his skills, Jhadow nodded. "Anyway, what did you think of the mission?"

"It's impressive," Jhadow stated as he finished his own slice. "It reminded me of the jobs I used to take when I was much younger. Anyway, how has Gramps been treating you Naruto?"

"It's great, I just wish that we covered more training before I became a ninja," Naruto said as he gave his grandfather a sidelong glance, who ignored it while happily eating his own slices. "He's been training me really hard to become a monk and helping me out a lot with trying to become a ninja too!"

"I'm just giving him the exact same training that I gave you with some added stuff," Karasu stated as he took a swig of sake. "Started him off with the same basic stuff that I did with you when you were a hatchling. He has lots of control, but too much power to really take full of advantage of it yet."

"How far along?" Jhadow asked as he took a swig himself.

"Has my style down, but can't make use of the finer workings of it."

"That stinks. And the weights?"

"About half of what I gave you when you were his age."

"What weights?" Naruto asked as he gave Karasu a confused look. He doesn't even remember ever lifting weights before. The only things that he ever lifted during training was his staff and his shakuhachi.

"He doesn't know," Jhadow stated with a slight smirk. "Oh this is too good to be true! But only half, are you getting soft Gramps?"

"I know, but do you remember what it was like when you were his age," Karasu grinned with mischief glinting behind his eyes. Jhadow let out a sigh of nostalgia as he smiled at some long distant memory. "Naruto, for now don't worry about it, it's not something you should really concern yourself with. It's all apart of your training. You'll come to understand in due time."

Kakashi eventually showed up and joined the little party; giving Naruto a quick debriefing before officially being off duty. The group continued on throughout the night, telling tales of past deeds and adventures; recalling memories of the past and learning more about each other. Past midnight, the jonin left and Naruto went off to his room for the night, leaving both Karasu and Jhadow alone on the front steps drinking some sake.

After a moment of companionable silence, Jhadow spoke, "So, how long has the kid been a Jinchuuriki?" The old monk looked surprised. "It's not like I haven't dealt with Jinchuuriki's before Gramps."

Karasu let out a soft sigh. "The Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed inside of him the day he was born," the old man explained. Seeing a nod from his eldest grandson, he continued, "He only found out about it in the month that I was away for the annual meeting with the Order."

"Left him in the dark about it for that long?" Karasu nodded. "Can't say that I blame you, but I'm guessing that you placed more emphasis his monk training then ninja training due to his condition."

"Yes, with the Shiki Fujin seal set in place, there has never been a problem." The old man let out another sigh. "From my observations over the years, the seal was slowly extracting the chakra of the Kyuubi and converting it into his own chakra. Recently though, during his last mission, it surged through him, granting him overwhelming power and…"

"Rage? Well its better that he doesn't have to do with the fox."

"It would become a crutch for him if it comes to that. I've seen other Jinchuuriki's and they are powerful, but not what they could be if only they didn't rely on the beasts within."

Smirking, Jhadow said, "Human have the potential to become gods themselves." That ended that conversation, both men opting for silence at the moment as they stared at the stars above. "He has a good head on his shoulders Gramps. You did as fine a job with him as you did for me."

"Well it's been ages since I raised you when you were a mere hatchling."

"He seems like a good kid with a decent head on his shoulders. I'm sure that he doesn't really want anything to do with the Fox."

"He doesn't," Karasu stated as he began to grin while staring at Jhadow. "Like I said before with Anko-chan, you're timing is quite fortuitous."

"Fine, but do you have any idea as to why the boss wanted me here? My duties aren't limited to just one place, it's everywhere where that falls under His domain."

Shrugging, the old monk could only say, "Time will tell Jhadow, time will tell."


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto. It is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto.**  
**

**Chapter Four**

It is a day like any other for Team Kakashi as they waited for their ever persistently late jonin instructor. As always during this time, the three genin would generally be keeping to themselves, but this time, it was a bit more tensed then usual. The mission was quite stressful for the young monk and both of his teammates took that lapse as a sign of weakness, especially with the young Uchiha. A moment of weakness like the one that Naruto showed in the middle of a life and death battle is beyond contempt; unfortunately, he has no idea of the inner conflict that was raging inside of the monk at the time.

To pass the time however, to make the wait more bearable, Naruto pulled out a scroll that his estranged cousin gave him that morning before he left for his team meeting. The scroll was interesting; it was a family keepsake that Jhadow wanted to share with the young monk.

* * *

"_I'd like to see if you have what it takes to handle what's inside of this scroll Naruto," his cousin had said while looking down at him with a knowing smile; as if he already knew something. It is hard however since his cousin's eyes seemed lifeless and displayed no emotion compared to both his voice and his face. "This is a keepsake that I made to pass down to my family… anyway; I can't pass it on to my own kid, how about you try your luck with these moves."_

_The young monk at the time took note of how his older cousin looked as he said those words, it made him feel honored to know that even though the scroll was meant for his own family; he was willing to pass it on to him. Right there, Naruto knew that something happened to his cousin's own family. The scroll suddenly felt much heavier then it should have; it felt as if he was also holding the souls of both his cousin's wife and especially his child. Bringing it closer to him, he looked up at the man before bowing. "Thank you Onii-san, I don't know how I could properly thank you for this," Naruto said as he lowered himself as much as possible to the older man who chuckled before ruffling his hair._

"_Don't worry about it," his cousin said before bringing Naruto back up. "Just tell me if you've noticed anything in particular about the moves in the scroll tomorrow." With that, he went back into the temple, leaving Naruto standing by the entrance, and looking down at the scroll._

* * *

After looking over the scroll once more, Naruto took note of how old it the paper seemed. It looked much older then it could possibly, which didn't make sense unless his cousin just happened to have had a blank scroll on hand that was well aged to begin with. Putting that though to the side, he opened it and noticed that it was a scroll with a set style of taijutsu; what it's name was, he had no idea, it wasn't listed, but he did notice that some of the kata's inside it were a few that he already knew. 'Must have been heavily influenced by Gramps,' the monk thought as he looked them over. He was sure that his grandfather showed him the first one for sure, a few of the others though, he had real idea on how he knew them. It's just that he knew them, yet he knows that he never worked on them before.

"Very strange," he muttered before setting the scroll down on the ground next to him as he got up and assumed the first stance. It was a stance he knew very well, one that he felt most comfortable with; it was the one that his grandfather showed him, and for some reason, he can feel a surge of power whenever he assumed this one stance. More so than anything else from what his grandfather had taught him, "Maybe Onii-san taught him some of the moves and he let that one slip when teaching me what he knew?"

After a few moments of going through the first set and smoothly transferring into the next set, his arrogant teammate finally decided to speak, "What are you doing Dobe? Trying to make yourself look better even though you're a coward?"

"Yea, what are you doing Naruto," his other teammate finally decided to chime in.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he just glanced over at them as he maintained his form, "Just working on some moves in a scroll that my cousin gave me. He wanted to see if I had the right stuff to learn these moves."

"Its taijutsu right" Sakura asked, confused as to how can one see if someone had the qualities needed to learn it.

Nodding towards his teammate, he was beginning to get lost in the moves; they seemed so natural to him and that without even looking at the scroll, he knew that he was beginning to move into the more advanced form despite not knowing them. It was like a voice was whispering what to do into his ears…

He froze upon that thought, and terror flew across his face. Jumping down to the scroll and further confusing his teammates, Naruto looked over the scroll, trying to absorb every single note that was on the paper. There was no way for him to have actually slipped into and gone through the forms that he never saw or looked over before. Deciding that something was wrong with the scroll, he made a single hand seal, the kind that his grandfather showed him to help channel his chakra for his monk techniques; Naruto poured his chakra over the scroll, trying to analyze any and all details about the scroll, to see if it had some kind of dark taint, hoping beyond hope that the Fox wasn't acting up and that it was quite possibly his cousin's family possessing the scroll.

After checking it over, he came to the horrifying conclusion that it wasn't possessed and that something was guiding him, most likely the Fox. Fearing such a thing happening, he rolled up the scroll, intent on talking to his grandfather about this development. Calming down once the scroll was tucked away inside his clothes; he sat down and began to meditate; only the Lord's could possibly know how much he needs find his inner peace.

Roughly an hour later, Kakashi showed up to the training ground, with an excuse on his lips, but lost it upon seeing the young monk. He ignored Sakura who chewed him out for being late. Walking over to Naruto to see what was going on, he knelt besides the boy and asked, "Naruto is everything okay?"

"Kakashi-sensei, I don't know," Naruto stated as he opened his eyes to his concerned sensei. "I was just going over a taijutsu scroll that Jhadow-oniisan gave me and all of a sudden, something weird happened." He then explained to Kakashi what happened.

"Mind if I take a look at it Naruto?"

"I'm not sure if I should Sensei. Onii-san gave it to me, and then this happened. I'm not sure if I should just simply pass it around. After we're done for the day, I'm going to hand it off to Gramps so he can take a look at it and have him explain to me what is going on."

"All right then." Kakashi then stood up and dragged the monk to his feet. "Okay kiddies, we're going to the Hokage Tower to get ourselves a mission for the day!"

"Finally, another challenge worthy of me," Sasuke said as he began to walk off towards the village with Sakura at his heels.

Kakashi began to walk on as well, but stopped once he noticed that Naruto wasn't following, "Aren't you coming Naruto?" The young monk looked indecisive for moment before nodding and jogging to catch up with his team. As he lagged behind his team, Kakashi couldn't help but reflect on his student's individual skills.

Uchiha Sasuke, the number one rookie of the current year and last Uchiha within the walls of Konoha. Very talented, considered a genius by many in the village, he'd have to agree with that statement with how he performed during his test and how well he performed in the field; though his social skills were next to nonexistent, seeing everyone else was beneath him. Hailing from the Uchiha bloodline, the boy is quite skilled, gave him a run for his money during his test, surprising the Jonin with a range of ninjutsu that leaves most genin, even some of the older ones, wanting. Amongst his skills, genjutsu wasn't a strong point, but he was able to detect and dispel them, now more so then before with his bloodline awakening during that last battle against Zabuza and his apprentice. The boy's taijustu is good as well; the equal many chuunin's in the village for sure, and now with the Sharingan, he was sure to become even better. Both his chakra control and his attitude could use improvement though.

Haruno Sakura, the number one kunoichi of this year's class. Quite skilled in the basic skills from the academy, able to make great use for them, but with her chakra control, he can only imagine right now what she could become if she applied herself to a branch of skills that would make use of her control. With that brain of hers, she has the potential to be quite frightening in the future; not now though, not with her infatuation with Sasuke. It's holding her back, something that he'll need to work on for sure.

Then there is Uzumaki Naruto, the quite literal multi-class ninja of the team. He has no idea really why he decided to dub him as the multi-class ninja; it just seemed to fit with his two skill sets. Coming out of the Academy in the middle of his class, Kakashi was not surprised however by this development. With both skill sets, it's not much of a surprise that Naruto landed there. Normally, the cadet with the lowest grade would be placed on the team, but if it wasn't for his request for Naruto to be on his team, he would have ended up with someone else, someone who most likely would have crippled the team in such a way that he would have gone on to wait for the next class to graduate. He owed it to the Yondaime to teach Naruto, if it wasn't for that man, he wouldn't have turned out the way he did…

Noticing that he was getting off of topic and away from reflecting on his student's skills, he reminded himself right from the start that despite being from the middle of the pack, the boy's two strongest skills from what he has seen has been his taijutsu and his chakra control. If it wasn't for his moderate academics and his lack of ninjutsu, he would have had the highest grades in the class. During his test, the young monk actually gave him trouble, especially once he threw multiple Kage Buunshin's thrown into the mix. The kid was definitely the strongest in taijutsu, no doubts about that, when he could quite easily trounce Sasuke if he wanted to; but held back enough in their practice spars to help Sasuke to pick up what he himself is doing wrong. The boy's chakra control is surprising as well, on par with most Jonin of the village; ironically though, he had no skills at all with genjutsu, but could casually shrug them off like they were nothing. 'Karasu-sama must have done something about that,' Kakashi thought as he tried to understand how Naruto had some kind of immunity to genjutsu and not even notice it. With such control, massive pool of chakra, Kakashi felt that the boy might greatly benefit from one of his Sensei's own personal jutsu to help supplement the boy's own lack of ninjutsu.

He knew that he had a lot to do ahead of him if the past couple of weeks could tell him anything. Especially now with the Exam's coming up; maybe he is rushing them a bit, but he knew that it would be a good learning experience for them. Sure the Exam is quite literally a controlled war where the examinees could die; he felt that his team could pull through. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out his favorite orange book. 'Let the kids say what they want,' he thought with a chuckle. 'They just don't understand how rich the story actually is.'

* * *

An hour later, Team Kakashi could be found doing a D-Rank mission around the village, much to the ire of Sasuke who felt that such a mission was beneath him. The boy took it as an insult to his skills, especially after finishing their last mission. This stroke of misfortune, he blamed it on Naruto; if it wasn't for him being weak. It wasn't far off from the truth however; Kakashi felt that going back to these menial missions would be a welcomed relief for Naruto; who was very much grateful of course despite not openly showing it. After such a stressful event happening in that last mission, Kakashi really felt that he should give his team some down time to unwind, besides, it would be unbecoming to have one of them hospitalized from going out on a mission right now with the Exam's coming up.

Kakashi may have gotten them such a mission to have them unwind a bit after that last mission, he wanted to improve on their team dynamics somehow. That is the real purpose for these missions anyway, to help genin team's learn how to work together first before actually being thrown into a serious situation. 'Let most people say what they want about these missions,' Kakashi thought as he turned a page in his book. 'It's far better to actually have some form of team dynamics before going into battle.

* * *

Anko had no real idea as to why she was sitting at The Dango Shop. Of course she knew of course, but thinking of the reason behind it frustrated her. Right out of the blue, the Old Man just happens to dump his grandson onto her to help her with the damn Seal of Heaven. Sure he told her about how life was when growing up with the Old Man years ago, but that didn't really amount to much trust anyway. Of all of the people in the village, the only ones that she could truly trust can be counted on one hand; everyone else turned their backs on her once her _sensei_ left the village.

To help settle her rampaging thoughts, she ate another dango from the skewer she was holding. It was almost noon, the time when they agreed to meet here. She had no idea why he insisted on having lunch and the discussion here of all places. The nature of the issue was a very private and personal matter to her; the likes of which can easily sway more people to be against her!

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice a man clad in a dark cloak and an umbrella hat sits down across from her. "How ya doing Anko-han," Jhadow greeted as he set down a book and let his hat hang off of the bank of his neck.

Looking at him, Anko took note that his cloak, and his clothes were quite different from the previous evening. From what she glanced as he sat down, he was wearing a baggy pair of brown shorts and a dark blue shirt under his high collar cloak that looked well worn. "Could be better," the kunoichi mumbled as she gave the book next to him a casual glance. It was odd to her, it was a pretty large paper back book bound differently from what she is used to seeing and that she couldn't identify the characters on the cover. "What do you have there, some kind of holy tome that only high ranking priests can read?"

Looking down at his book, he gave a chuckle before flagging a waitress. "It's called the _Necronomicon_, written by a man from a faraway land," he explained before giving his order to the waitress. Seeing the kunoichi's raised eyebrow, he explained. "It is a most ancient manuscript, written by the "Black Sorcerer" Abdul Alhazred. Written in virgin blood and bound in human flesh, this book holds the secrets to all of his Black Magic!"

Giving him a dry look showing her disbelief, Anko asked, "So that is not paper and is human flesh? Actually, why would you be walking around with such a _blasphemous_ work in broad daylight when your own grandfather is a highly respected monk?"

"Because this book is really just a collection of short stories written by a man named Howard Phillips Lovecraft." Jhadow took his meal and thanked the waitress. Taking a bit, he continued. "He was a man that lead the way to an interesting literary philosophy called Cosmicism. It is a belief that humans are of very little significance in the grand view of the universe and that there is no such thing as a god."

"Well the Biju exist and they're terribly powerful," the kunoichi commented as she took a sip of her tea. "Even then, God and Goddesses exist, if the Order has anything to say about it."

"Has Gramps told you much of anything about the Order and what it's composed of?" Anko shook her head. "Any real detailing the Order or his own role within it?" Again the kunoichi said no. "What you know of as Gods and Goddesses, aren't really that, just really powerful Spirits and Demons. There are in only two beings that can really be considered Gods, and they are the Great Lords. The Lords created everything in existence, including the _Gods_and _Goddesses_."

"How would you know this?"

"That's a secret!" The man after setting aside a skewer before grabbing another. "Anyway, the book is a good read, just a little something that some publishers put together many years after Lovecraft's death. Strange thing about art is that when the artist dies, they become much more popular." Reaching into his cloak, he pulled a scroll that Anko was quite familiar with. "Well, let's get down to a bit of business shall we? We won't really go into your seal yet; because I can tell that you're quite annoyed, frustrated, and would like to do nothing more then to kick my ass."

"Geez, what told you that," she asked as she glared at him. "Why ask for the meeting then if you knew this?"

Waving the scroll a bit in front of her, he said, "Well it wouldn't really hurt if we got to know one another first before I really do any work." Jhadow then leveled the scroll at Anko while he rested an elbow on the table. "There should be a certain level of trust first before we begin. You already have that trust with Gramps, though it might be strained now with what he did; but he did it with the best of intentions. And trust me, I wouldn't be doing this if Gramps hadn't of asked me; nor would I have been in the area if my boss didn't send me here."

"I guess the feeling is mutual then," she reached for the scroll, only to have him pull it away from her. "You don't care that much for me nor do I care much for you."

"Yes well, that may or may not change once we get to know each other," Jhadow stated once he set the scroll on the table in front of the kunoichi. "It really doesn't matter in the end though, because I will be removing that seal from you whether you like it or not. Us getting along and having some trust would just make things go much smoother."

At that, Anko narrowed her eyes as she took the scroll while a kunai slipped into her free hand. She then casually waved it at the man, enjoying him squirm a bit. "Even though you're the Old Man's grandson, I'll gut you if you try anything. You got that." Jhadow nodded. "Now then, we learned a bit about each other last night, but why don't we…"

"Have a spar," the man interrupted with a smirk that seemed to irritate Anko even more when combined with his dead eyes. Even though she was annoyed, the kunoichi grinned at the thought of kicking his ass; so she agreed. "Good, we can duke it out later. For now, let's just relax and enjoy each others company so we can better beat the living shit out of each other later?"

At that, Anko's eye twitched, and she felt the urge to whip out a kunai and ram it through the man's lifeless eyes. Seriously, if there is one thing for sure about the man that just irritates her, it was his damn eyes. So in the spirit of things, she decided, "You're eyes piss me off."

"You wound me fair maiden of sharp stabby objects," Jhadow replied with a raised brow. "It's because they lack life in them right? Well that's because making eyes appear to have life in them through the use of illusions is impossible." Seeing her own raised brow, he continued. "My eyes aren't the most pleasant things to see directly. I lost both of them on the field of battle many years ago, and a field medic performed a transplant in the field with the closest thing available."

"And that would be?"

"An octopus… so you can understand why I have to hide them under and illusion."

"Bullshit, show me."

"Are you sure," he asked while glancing around the stand, taking note of the people around them. "It isn't a pleasant sight to behold." Seeing that she wasn't going to be dissuaded, he waved his hand over his eyes, and two dark bulbous eyes appeared. The sight of the two eyes were too disturbing and disgusting for Anko to handle and she fled to the back of the stand to empty the contents of her stomach; not noticing that the eyes lacked life like before. Chuckling humorously, he waved his hand over his eyes again.

* * *

It was a long and grueling day for Team Kakashi. The mission that they went on was relatively simple and mind numbing, just perfect for Naruto. He didn't mind the chore; he normally performed that and more back home at the temple. They were back at the training ground, getting ready to go off into their usual afternoon routine.

What he did mind however was the smug look Sasuke had on his face as he stood across from him in the clearing. Both of them were told to spar by Kakashi, and that they had to solely rely on their taijutsu for this. Naruto knew that this was his strongest skill, and not Sasuke's. He can lay him down on the ground easily if he really tried, Sasuke did too; or so he hopes Sasuke knew from past experience in both the Academy and after being placed on the same team. 'Seriously, what is Sensei thinking,' the young monk thought as he assumed a stance without thinking, oddly noting that it was the one from that morning. 'I know that it sounds conceited, but wouldn't it be better if I was paired against Sakura to help her improve more then this bastard?'

Taking note that Naruto took a stance, Sasuke did as well, with that same smug look still plastered on his face. The monk could practically hear Sakura cheer for the Uchiha even though Kakashi forbade it; and for good reasons too; such actions could potentially ruin the already shaky team dynamics. 'Just because he was the top student in the class and an Uchiha, she fawns over him,' he thought to himself, preparing for the signal to begin. It's always been this way, since back in the academy; the girls who are all hopped up in the notions of love and romance would pine for the punk. Naruto had no idea as to why this is, even before any of them actually hit puberty. Sure the monk has a healthy respect for the opposite sex, but that came from the combined corruption of his grandfather, Pervy Monk, Pervy Sage, and Anko-oneesan. As odd as it sounds for that to have happened to him, he made a note that despite each of their quirks, that each of them had said that understanding of feelings came later on. Being as young as he is now, they didn't really have a good understanding of what they feel; so what Sakura, and the rest of the girls back in the academy felt was most likely nothing more then a simple crush that would fade in time…

There it was, the signal, a rock bouncing off of a tree. Kakashi's favored method of starting the spars; keeps them aware of their surroundings during training. Thanks to his training from his grandfather, he wasn't caught unaware by the lunge that the Uchiha made. Deflecting the fist to the side, he landed a palm strike on the other boy's sternum, hard enough to stun him. After that, he took a couple of steps back and resumed his stance. Looking into the eyes of his opponent, Naruto noted that Sasuke looked really angry, more so then he normally is in their spars.

Not wasting anymore time on his sore chest, Sasuke launched himself back into the fight. Throwing all manners of attacks at the monk, only to have each strike blocked, dodged, or countered. Not once did Naruto go on the offensive, nor countered with more then enough force for the Uchiha to know that he needs to work on his form.

Finally getting tired of the monotonous actions coming from his opponent, he decided to make his move. Sidestepping the latest attack, a punch aimed for his head; Naruto threw out an arm, catching his opponent across the chest as he swiped one leg under him. The result was instantaneous.

Sasuke was laid out on his back with Naruto standing over him over.

Holding out a hand to help his opponent up, he scowled as the other boy knocked it away before lashing out at him. Their spar resume and would follow the same pattern where no matter what Sasuke tried, he would never get past the monk's defenses.

As the two boys's sparred, Kakashi stood off to the side of the clearing with Sakura, idly noting that despite her being told not to cheer, she was bouncing a bit. He also took note that she was once again getting frustrated with how, despite being against a monk, Sasuke was being quite literally man-handled. Which oddly enough was the main reason why he wanted the two boys to spar; he could handle Sasuke just as well as Naruto can, if not more, but the boy would just put it down as him being a Jonin and not by one who is just as old as him and trained to be a monk. These spars, even though they are meant to improve the two boys, they were mostly meant to humble the arrogant Uchiha. The boy's pride and attitude could very well one day end up biting them all in the ass if nothing was done about it.

"Sakura, what do you see," Kakashi asked his last student without looking away from the spar; idly noting that Sasuke took a moment to use his doujutsu if that even smugger look on his face was anything to go by.

A bit surprised by the sudden question, Sakura did her best to hide it from her sensei; which didn't amount to much given the vast difference in skill and experience between the two. "Naruto is beating on Sasuke-kun," she answered as she glared at the monk before shaking her head. "But he is showing that Sasuke-kun is leaving himself wide open to his counter attacks and that his form needs to shape up a bit."

"You have a good eye Sakura," the jonin said as he ruffled her hair, annoying the pink haired girl and not once taking his eye off of the spar. "What else can you see?"

"Sasuke-kun is reading Naruto's moves much easier then before," the girl stated as she spared her sensei an angry glance, and crossing her arms over her chest. "He activated his Sharingan right?" The jonin nodded. "Then why is he losing if the Sharingan is such a powerful doujutsu?"

"As good as the doujutsu is for giving added insight into his opponent's actions; it doesn't help if the user's body isn't capable of keeping up with what he sees."

"So because Sasuke-kun is slower then Naruto, it's not helping him at all." The kunoichi notes that both boys' probably know this by now, maybe not Naruto due to the lack of knowledge about the doujutsu. Though it did make her wonder why Sasuke didn't stop using the Sharingan if it wasn't working for him at the moment; if she was fortunate enough to have a doujutsu like the Sharingan, and been in the same situation, she would have chosen to conserve her chakra over wasting it.

"You may not be the strongest on the team Sakura, but you are definitely the brightest," Kakashi praised as he finally looked down at Sakura with a smike under his mask. The kunoichi blushed from the praise her sensei gave her before she was startled forward. "Now make you're entrance and make that spar into a free for all!"

Even though she was a bit annoyed with the man, she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. "Yes Sensei," she exclaimed before running off to the boys. As she got within range, she launched herself at the nearest boy, which happened to be Naruto and shouted, "Graceful Entry!"

Upon hearing the shout, Naruto sidestepped another one of Sasuke's attacks and swapped places. The sight of Sakura's foot in Sasuke face just made both Kakashi's and Naruto's day. After the entry of the new challenger, the three genin broke out into the free for all that Kakashi wanted.

Seeing this, Kakashi couldn't help but also note that even though Sakura was weaker then Sasuke's, her form was much better. 'She can be annoying at times, but she is definitely my brightest student,' Kakashi mused as he watched the spar. 'Those pointers that I gave her really made quite the improvement. Definitely more fun to teach then either of the two boys. Maybe Naruto could match her once I begin to teach him some jutsu.'

The spar between the three genin would go on for a while, with each of them taking shots at each other. Sasuke with tunnel vision would solely focus on Naruto, and fall short each time he did to get hit by Sakura; who regrets doing so, but it is a free for all spar that their sensei told them to do. The kunoichi however would focus more on Naruto, whether or not it was due to having her kick Sasuke in the face or not, Kakashi couldn't really tell. He was pleased however when Sakura would strike out at Sasuke; showing more and more of how poor despite being the number one student in the academy Sasuke is.

It was different from what they normally did; one on one spars, and Naruto would rotate between the other two genin. In this instance, it's pushing each of them even further. Kakashi knew this and knew that this would show something about each other, maybe Naruto if he wasn't holding his own too damn well.

From what the jonin could tell, Sasuke was getting frustrated at the lack of progress. Hard to tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, especially with how Sakura kept sneaking shots at him. Finally having enough of this however, he finally caught the kunoichi and threw her at the monk out of anger. Naruto caught the girl and put her to the side, mindful of how shaken she was after that. 'Is she beginning to see the other side of the Uchiha,' the jonin mused as his eye caught Sasuke blindsiding Naruto with a barrage of punches and kicks. Thrown off balanced from the improvised attack, Naruto had no time to put up a defense. He managed to block and dodge a few, but that one moment was all Sasuke needed to get the monk.

Seeing that he had the advantage and felt like returning favor after the high of using his teammate as an improvised attack, he grabbed a hold of Naruto's clothes and prepared to throw him by falling back and pushing the monk over him. It failed spectacularly he could pull the monk down at all. To the Uchiha, it felt like he was trying to move a mountain; Naruto wouldn't budge at all.

'He should have known better then to try that,' Kakashi thought as he watched the Uchiha's pitiful attempt at throwing Naruto. 'Left himself wide open…'

The sound of a fist hitting flesh reverberated throughout the clearing. Naruto's fist staggered the Uchiha upon impacting the boy's cheek. "The boy had it coming," Kakashi muttered to himself as he continued to watch the display. He even chuckled when he watched throw Sasuke like he did to Sakura. The young Uchiha landed on the ground, his head softening his landing. Naruto didn't follow through, for at that moment, Sakura recovered and launched her own attacks at the monk. Each one was futile against the boy, but it was a better experience for her instead of being matched against Sasuke. As the two of them were busy dueling, neither one noticed scowl or begin to make hand gestures. In the blink of an eye, Kakashi appeared next to Sasuke, both of the boy's hands restrained by his one. "That's enough." His other two students immediately stopped and noticed his hand restraining Sasuke. "That's it for today, go ahead and relax; I'll see you all in the morning." After that he looked up to the sky before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Finally free from the jonin, Sasuke scowled and turned his back on his team. Sticking his hand in his pockets and began to walk away, ignoring the kunoichi as she attempted to woo him. He had no need for her; she only gets in the way, as it was seen in the spar. She kept getting in his way during the spar, and he hated her for that. 'Women are weak and always get in the way,' the Uchiha thought to himself as he left his team without a word and coldly left Sakura behind.

Stunned by the blatant coldness, Sakura couldn't help but feel hurt from her crush's actions. Sure she got some good hits on him that if they were ever matched up in a regular spar outside of a free for all, she wouldn't have landed those blows, but it was part of their sensei's instructions. Even then the look of anger on his face scared her a bit when he threw her at Naruto, that moment stunned her as well. She may not have much of an opinion of Naruto, especially after his display during the last mission, Sakura does have to admit that she is thankful that he caught her and set her down instead of throwing her away. So lost in her conflicting thoughts where she was trying to justify why Sasuke was acting the way he was to her, she didn't notice Naruto approach her until his hand was on her shoulder and startled her. "Don't do that Naruto," she exclaimed as she placed a hand over her heart.

The monk chuckled from beneath his umbrella hat and smiled. "You need to pay more attention to your surroundings Sakura," he said with a smirk. "Don't worry about that jerk, Sakura, we wounded his pride today." The kunoichi gave him a confused look. "He thinks that he is the greatest just because he was born an Uchiha…" The girl said that he is. "If he was then he'd have done much better back there and not need to a cheap trick in a spar to land a few blows on me." Now the girl looked down. "He is too prideful Sakura. Sure he was the top student of our class and is an Uchiha, but that doesn't mean he is the greatest. After today, I'm pretty sure that is why Sensei had me spar with him first before having you jump in." Sighing, he gave Sakura a look. "Well Sakura, I'll catch ya later."

Sakura stayed behind for a few more minutes, watching her teammate walk away, reflecting on the day's events. Starting from the meeting, to the 'mission' and then to the afternoon training before wrapping it with the spar. Even though Naruto was a monk, ever since the conception of their team, Sakura felt as if she's been the third wheel. No matter what she tried, Sasuke just never really approved of her; even after Naruto's moment of weakness at the bridge. She is grateful for being placed on the team, especially with a sensei like Kakashi who despite his habits, was very helpful with her. 'Must be because he can focus on me a bit more then either of the guys at the moment,' she thought to herself before heading out as well. 'Though, Kakashi-sensei is a bit of a sneaky bastard if he planned on using that spar to teach Sasuke a lesson.'

* * *

Looking around the room, Sarutobi Hiruzen, couldn't help but feel the anxiety that is being felt by each and every single one of his ninja within the room. Each person was waiting expectantly for the meeting to begin, but he couldn't start it yet on the grounds of two jonin not being there yet; Mitarashi Anko and Maito Gai. Both jonin were running late, later then even the ever tardy Hatake Kakashi. It didn't bother him all that much for the two to be running late, but Gai has always made it a point to be punctual and the old man knew that Anko was on her day off.

'Both should have been here by now,' the Hokage thought as he sat behind his desk with both Namiashi Raido and Shiranui Genma at his side. Both men ready to assist and make sure that the meeting doesn't get out of hand should it happen. It's happened a few times in the past where ninja's would protest and get a bit rowdy. 'So many foreign ninja's in the village already and even the…' His train of thought ran off once the double doors opened.

Stepping into the room, and revealing themselves to the rest of those in the room, stood both missing jonin and Karasu's eldest grandson that he only just met that morning. What set them off a bit were their disheveled appearance and the fact that Gai was being supported between Jhadow and Anko. "Ah Hiru-han, how are you doing," Jhadow asked as the trio moved further into the room before dumping Gai into a chair. The numerous ninja's in the room sent a glare at the man at once for the lack of respect that Hiruzen deserved. The old Hokage chuckled at the antics of the man and his ninja, noticing that he wasn't fazed at all by the annoyed ninja's. "Sorry about tying up both Anko-han and Gai-han. We were having a light friendly spar and lost track of time."

"Jhadow-san was most youthful…" Gai didn't finish that as he was cuffed on the back of the head by Anko who seemed more annoyed then usual.

The annoyed glance that Anko sent to both men and their appearance said that whatever they were doing was anything but 'light' to the old man. "I see that you are becoming comfortable here Jhadow-san," Hiruzen stated as he sat his elbows on his desk and leaned his chin on his folded hands. "See to it that you don't tie up my ninja again when I summon them."

"Yes Hiru-han, I shall keep that in mind," the man said with a smile that brought about another bout of nostalgia, similar to what he felt that morning when he first met the man and hear him call him that way. "We came as soon as Anko-han saw the hawk, but we had to carry Gai-han here from the fields." Glancing over at Gai he continued. "This most youthful person here was most unyouthful by not being able to pick himself up and drag his own ass here." Anko stifled a snort and smirked at Gai's sputtering, but she couldn't really blame him, Jhadow really pummeled him once he jumped into their 'friendly' spar. The eccentric jonin was walking pass the training field that the two were sparing at and assumed that Jhadow was assaulting Anko. The end result was being laid out on his back and having to drag his green ass to the Hokage Tower.

"Good," Hiruzen nodded as he eyed each and every person before going back to his friend's grandson. "Jhadow-san, if you don't mind, can you meet me in my office once this meeting is over. You're more then welcome to stay of course, but I must ask that you keep to yourself." The man nodded before walking off to the back of the room and leaned against a wall. "Now then, I'm sure that all of you have noticed by now. One week from today. To make it completely official, I hereby announce we shall be holding the Chunin Selection Exam, seven days from now, on the first of July." The group of ninja stood straight, giving their lord their full attention. "Now then, we'd like to hear first from the sensei's of our newest Genin."

From his position, it was hard to tell who stepped forward, but Jhadow was able to identify's the silver head of hair that could only mean that it was Naruto's sensei. The other two he couldn't really see; one had a slender figure with shoulder length black hair and an odd bandage like top, and the other had to be a man with short spiky black hair and wearing an outfit similar to most of the ninja's in the room. Seeing that this is for an exam, Jhadow couldn't help but shake his head, not seeing why there is a need for such formalities. He kinda zoned out most of what the Hokage said until Kakashi spoke, "Team Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. I vow upon the honor of my clan, the Hatake, that all three of them are ready for the Chunin Selection Exam."

"Team Kurenai, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba," the now identified kunoichi said before saying the exact same line as Kakashi. All that Jhadow learned was that her clan was the Yuhi and that her name is Kurenai; he was beginning to see a pattern here with the naming of the teams.

"Team Asuma, Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino," the other man of the trio claimed that these genin were prepared for the exam as well. Though an eyebrow did rise on Jhadow's face upon hearing that his clan was the exact same one as the Hokage's.

"How unusual," the Hokage said as he looked at the three jonin. "You all declared that each of your students are ready after only a few months out of the academy without any hesitation…" After that, Jhadow zoned out once again after the crowd began to murmur and one ninja who apparently taught each of the genin began to voice his own concern.

The man chuckled, remembering his own youth and the adventures that he used to take when he was around Naruto's age. The other genin must be the same age as Naruto if what the instructor who name he picked up to be Iruka is saying is correct. Once the issue of the 'rookie' genin was settled, the rest of the ninja's had their own chance to nominate their own teams. Jhadow was a bit surprised when Gai bounced up to his feet to give his own nomination. He waited patiently for Anko to give her own team a nomination, but it didn't seem to be as she was then called forth along with two other men. Both men wore a bandana, but one wore a black trenchcoat and the other was dressed similarly to Kakashi.

"Anko, Hayate, Ibiki," the Hokage began as he looked at each of the three before him. "You will be the chief examiners for the three parts of the exam. Ibiki, you shall give the first test. Anko you will take the second and you Hayate shall have the honor of giving the third exam. Any questions?" Seeing that none of them had questions, he dismissed every ninja present, ending the meeting. Once all of the ninja were gone, Hiruzen got up and moved towards the exit, both Genma and Raido following closely. Once he was about to exit, he motioned for Jhadow to follow; both jonin kept a wary eye on the man as he joined them.

No need to lax their guards; they only met the man that morning; even if he was with Karasu.

* * *

Once again, Karasu sat on the front step to the temple, waiting for his youngest grandson to come home. He knew that… Jhadow could take care of himself, and may or may not show up tonight; pending how the arrangements they tried to set up that morning with the Hokage went. 'If all went well, he'll be back in the morning,' the elderly monk thought as he sipped some sake. He then looked up at the sky, just watching the clouds. 'I wonder how you're meeting with Anko-chan. I hope that you didn't tease the poor girl too badly or killed each other.'

The old monk was curious as to what light his grandson would shed upon the mystery that is known as the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Only his Lord and His Son know how long he was trying to crack that seal. Sure he could have asked for their assistance, but doing so would be very much beneath either one. Of course it was sort of the same deal with his grandson, but for insight into a seal, who better to help you then the one who taught you the finer workings of the art? Anko was both annoyed and pissed off at him last night, but he'll be able to handle it; it was for her own continued heatlh and happiness later on in life.

Reaching into his robes, he pulled out his own copy of the notes and read over them, and muttered, "That seal really is a curse." The seal that Orochimaru gave the poor girl did far more harm then be a mere detriment to her own continued health. Did far more to her that would affect her own happiness if she was to ever settle down; it was too much that he couldn't bring himself to tell her that. He remembers the lonely and hurt girl that was brought to him by Hiruzen after the bastard abandoned and marked her. Over the years, whenever she needed anything, he was there for her; a shoulder to cry on, a person to talk to, someone to be proud of her. Even if she wasn't technically one of his grandchildren, she was as much one as either Jhadow or Naruto. Just as it was painful to tell Naruto about his burden, it is the same with Anko; the old monk just didn't know how to tell her. All he can really do was be there for her like always.

'I don't know why, but I think that I'm starting to feel my age,' he though as he looked down at Slime who as always smiled at up at him. 'That shouldn't be, must be the times and me worrying about both kids.' He reached down and scratched the little monster behind the pointy tip of its head and thought back to the previous night and what both he and Jhadow did once they went back into the house.

Inside, they both snuck into Naruto's room to check on the Shiki Fujin that marked the boy as the Jinchuuriki to the Kyubi no Kitsune. There are a few other kitsunes in the world with nine tails, but only this Biju, or aspect of the once great Jubi that holds the name of Kyubi no Kitsune. The added further insight of his eldest grandson confirmed his own thoughts of the seal, and what its doing to Naruto. The emotional state of mind and his madness though was an unforeseen event; he never expected the boy to be able to call on its power to any great extent aside from its subtle influence with healing the boy from injuries. The Biju's chakra being siphoned from the boy that was seen, being able to call upon strength was not something that he actually thought about if he was going to be perfectly honest. Even though the boy is a jinchuuriki, he was born a human and only turned into a sacrifice through the use of a ritual. The boy being human will never change; having some added benefits granted to him by being a jinchuuriki doesn't change it either.

Calling upon the power of the Biju would only lead to him eventually becoming too reliant on it. Depending on its own strength instead of his own; sure it's very potent chakra, but it's still not the boy's own strength. The old monk has been around for quite a long while, and knows for a fact that despite the apparently frailty and weakness of humans; it is only them that have the capacity of being the strongest of all races. Was it a god, goddess, demon or spirit that defeated the terrible Jubi? No it was a human, one who is called by all in this day and age as the Rikudo Sennin. Whatever his name was has been lost to the annals of history, and the only ones who could possibly remember it were those who have actually known him and are still around; the Biju being the most likely but to actually talk to them is a whole other story. All Karasu knew was that the person was human and walked the lands before he ever stepped foot on it, and that he was described as a God.

'It is always the strength of Will that allows humans to overcome insurmountable odds,' he thought as he noticed a familiar head of blond hair approaching. He felt like smiling, but his grandson's serious expression and his own thoughts prevented him. 'If he uses its power, he'll only become complacent with its use and never reach his true potential. There is never a shortcut to meeting ones potential. It took both me and Jhadow many years before we reached it and Anko-chan is still working on it as well!'

"Gramps we need to talk," the boy stated as he stood in front of his grandfather and handed him a scroll. "Jhadow-oniisan gave me this earlier and something weird happened."

Looking over the scroll, Karasu couldn't help but notice how aged the parchment was. "How so," he asked as he began to unroll it. "It looks like an ordinary scroll to me. Oh this old thing. What happened?" Naruto explained what happened as he sat down next to his grandfather; Slime hopped up into his lap. Once Naruto finished his tale, the elderly monk rolled the scroll back up and returned it to the boy. "This is nothing to worry about. Consider it a blessing, but wait until morning to talk to Jhadow about this."

"Gramps, how can _I_ not worry about it," Naruto asked when all of a sudden a hawk landed in front of them and bowed to his grandfather; it's not the first time that he's seen how birds just seem to _respect_ his grandfather, but still it's odd. The old man nodded in return to the bird and offered his arm out for the bird to hop up on. Seeing that it had a message tied to its leg, Karasu took it before sending the bird on his way. "Who is it from?"

"You cousin," was his answer as the old man got up. "Come on, we're going to town."

"Why," the young boy asked as he stood up, Slime resting in his clothes; it was weird because even though he knew that he was there, Naruto couldn't feel him at all.

Giving Naruto a brief glance, Karasu smirked as he began to walk away, "You'll see." Knowing that he won't get more from the old man, Naruto sighed before placing his hat back over his head and joined his grandfather. As they walked to and through the village, the only sound that either of them made was the soft steps and the jingle of the rings on top of their shakujo's.

They were walking for a while until they stopped in front of Naruto's favorite restaurant in the village, Ichiraku's. At the very sight of it, his mouth began to salivate, just thinking of the many wondrous different varieties of ramen there was. Miso was his favorite, and both Ayame-oneechan and her father Teuchi make the best in the whole world! 'Gramps was planning on surprising me for dinner,' the boy thought with excitement as they actually walked up to the restaurant.

"Good evening Ayame-chan, Teuchi-san," Karasu said as he greeted the owners working behind the stand who returned in kind. "Do you have my order ready?" Hearing those words and seeing the four legendary large take-out bags, one would think that it was Naruto's birthday.

* * *

Grumbling to herself as she shifted her two bags of groceries, Anko couldn't help but complain. Sure she had most of the day off until the summons for the meeting, but it didn't help when she reflected upon her time 'bonding' with Jhadow. His eyes were the most grotesque thing that she has ever seen, and that was saying something when her former sensei was a sick bastard. To make things even worse, in their 'friendly' spar, the man made it quite clear that he was her equal in skill. It was so equal and their spar so 'friendly' that had her fellow ninja Gai, taijutsu specialist of Konoha, jump in and tried to interfere. She was surprised by that, not many would in the village aside from a very 'select' few would even attempt to jump to her aid if she was in trouble; though in this case she wasn't and eccentric jonin assumed that Jhadow was attacking her.

Even though she'll admit that he is her equal in skill, she knows that he is far stronger then her for when he literally stopped Gai's famous entrance and then repelled it with a push of his foot. Both jonin were stunned for a moment before Gai broke out how youthful it was for the older man to stop him and renewed his attack after saying that it was most un-youthful to assault a woman. Upon reacting to Gai's actions, Jhadow shot her a look and she took the opportunity play with the situation by acting like she was a victim. The look on Jhadow's face made her day after what happened earlier and the stalemate that was their spar.

After a few moments of blocking and dodging and seeing that Gai wasn't getting anywhere, the kunoichi decided to jump in, and tipped the balance in favor of Gai. It didn't help much where they would only get a few lucky hits in, but it was then that the older man would finally retaliate against the two ninjas. Okay maybe he isn't technically her equal, none of them really used any techniques or jutsu's with the exception of Gai; his specialty is taijutsu after all. Anko couldn't help but snicker at the memory of Gai's youthful beating.

"This is for interfering with our spar," the man shouted as he managed to slip a punch in Gai's defenses after overextending himself. After the beating, he gave her an annoyed glare for not helping diffuse the situation and actually making it worse. She smirked, admitting that she had fun with what happened. However she was annoyed once the summons was called for, because she then had to help Jhadow carry the eccentric yet creepy jonin back to the village and to the Tower.

After the meeting ended, she and the other proctors went into a separate room where they waited patiently for the Hokage to arrive. It wasn't a long wait, about ten minutes, and the meeting that took place after that was to tell them what test that they will be handling. To be honest though, this was just merely a formality to finalize the positions of the proctors, and to be sure of the parameters of the tests that they will be giving. There will be other meetings for the tests over the week and she'll need to gather the appropriate supplies and make sure that all of the safe-guards are in place for Training Ground Forty-Four. Though honored to hold a respectable position within the exam, she just knew that deep down that it was going to be really troublesome due to her reputation as the apprentice of one of the most notorious missing-nin's to have ever come from Konoha.

As she entered her building, he ignored the nasty look that her land lord gave her. Nothing he can do about her really, despite how she appears in the public eye and her own past, she hasn't done anything to be kicked out compared to the other people who live in the building. At least she makes rent and even before going on a mission that is bound to keep her away from the due date. Climbing up the stairs, she couldn't help but sigh, living alone in an apartment on the far side of the third floor is good an all; but it doesn't help when your neighbors won't have anything to do with you. The one apartment next to hers has been empty for the past five years and once someone hears that she lives next to it, they stay away from it for fear of her coming to them in the middle of the night to experiment on them.

Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, she finally made it to her own apartment. Shuffling the bags in her arms as she reached for her keys, the kunoichi took note that there was music playing. Very soft and melodious music, in a style that she has never heard of before and it was coming from the apartment directly next to her. It was odd; no one really went into that one before except the land lord to clean it from time to time. Opening her door, she quickly surveyed her one bedroom apartment and sent her bags down on the counter in her kitchen area. It wasn't much, just a couch, a coffee table, a television and a shelf with a few books, some videos and combat discs. Through the room, there is very little in terms of decorations, it was plain with the white walls. The only thing showing any life in the living area was a few pictures of her with her friends or any event that she took part of. Any memory of her sensei was destroyed years ago. Quickly finishing up, she went back out into the hall and knocked on the door, wanting to meet the person who clearly doesn't know that they moved next door to the infamous apprentice of Orochimaru.

Not getting a reaction at all, she knocked again, a bit harder this time. Still nothing, but she can tell now that the music sounds like it's a recording of someone playing a piano. Very well too, it was quite pleasant to her ears; still it is nothing that she has heard before, and she is quite familiar with different types of music out there. Knocking even harder this time, she was about to give up when she heard movement from the other side of the portal. Even heard some grumbling on the other side about her stopping; the voice sounded muffled as if the man, from what she can tell, had just woken up.

Smirking and preparing herself to meet the person as the door was sliding open; she wasn't prepared for who was on the other side.

"Oh Anko-han, what are you doing here," Jhadow groggily asked with half-lidded eyes. She was so surprised by this that she just stood there with her mouth hanging out. "Oye, Anko-han, what is it? Is you're seal acting up now?" She shook her head. "What are you doing here then?"

Finally coming out of her stupor she said, "I was just coming over to see who was in here. It's been quite a few years since someone lived in this apartment." He asked her how she would know this and he told her that she lived right next door to him.

"Oh what a coincidence," Jhadow muttered as he invited her inside. "Gotta thank Hiru-han for that; but my money is on him not really knowing thinking about who my neighbors would be." She entered and took note of the coat rack next to the door where both his coat and hat hung. A few boxes lying around the floor along with a strange stereo unit on the floor; it looked liked it had a smaller device plugged into it, and it was playing the music that she heard. Looking to one side however, she found an entire shelf already filled to the brim with various books and tomes that she has either never heard of before or could understand because they are written in different languages. "Sorry about the mess, just moved in and all and decided to take a break and read. Guess that I fell asleep on the couch." He moved over to the kitchen and went into his fridge. "Care for a beer?"

"Sure what do you have," Anko asked as she sat down on the couch and noticed that the book lying on it was different from before, yet she still couldn't understand it. He told her what he had, and it was the only option. "Never heard of a stout before, I'll give it a shot." Jhadow pulled out two tall cans that had a harp on them and handed one over to her. Looking it over the for a moment before popping the lid, Anko really didn't know what to make of this situation. Before she was very annoyed and frustrated with the man, yet he is her neighbor now, the first one who would not judge her due to her past. If there was one thing about Konoha, is that the general populace tended to live in the past. Both she and Naruto are prime examples of it. Sipping it, she couldn't help but feel note the strange taste, it wasn't like anything that she had before. It was a bit bitter, but she didn't mind it too much. "What is this again?"

"Guinness," he said drinking from his own can. "It's from a land that I visited and tend to go back to now and again to stock up. I know that not many people agree with the drink, but I like it. I'll be sure to pick up larger variety once I get the chance to hit up some stores."

"You have a big interest in foreign items," Anko stated as she scanned the apartment. "How often do you normally travel?"

"Quite often," he said he sat down on the couch next to her. "Normally I'm just going around making my rounds to keep an eye on things for my boss, but he asked for my presence here; so I don't think that I'll be traveling for a while." Anko then asked him why he decided to get an apartment if he could easily stay with his grandfather. He laughed, which annoyed her, "Of course I could stay with him, but it'd be too awkward in that old temple with both him and the kid. And I've been living on my own for years now. It would be just too awkward after having this much independence after so long."

As much as she would have wanted to disagree with him, Anko couldn't help agree about it being awkward for him to go back to staying with Karasu. Still deep down she longed for a place like that to have someone waiting for her. So she nodded in agreement as she looked down at her drink. "So what do you think of the place?"

"It's all right," he said with a shrug. "I'll be able to give you a better opinion later after I spent some time here."

Glancing over at the shelf full of books, Anko couldn't help but feel that the man next to her is a real book lover. Even more of one compared to Kakashi who generally has his head in the same book over and over again. She was about to ask him about what his hobby when someone knocked on the door. He got up and crossed over to the door, and knocked on it himself. The person knocked back.

This set of knocking went back and forth for a few moments before the person on the other side became frustrated, "Open the damn door you ungrateful brat!" Chuckling at the response, Jhadow opened the door, revealing both Karasu and Naruto. The young boy had his shakujo strapped to his back as he was busy carrying four large bags of take-out. "About damn time you opened it. You're still the same brat who left my nest all those years ago."

"And you still can't take a joke," the man said as he took two bags from the boy and invited them in. Naruto followed Jhadow to the kitchen area where he then laid the bags down on the counter. The boy was salivating, so Jhadow peeked into one of the bags and began doing so as well.

"He's a ramen addict as well," Anko said from the couch as she gave both men a casual glance as if it's a regular occurrence. She was used to seeing the kid worship the noodles, but seeing a grown man holding a bowl of the stuff in reverence was actually very weird in her book. 'Yea, their family all right,' the kunoichi thought as she glanced back over to the old monk who gave her a shrug. 'And how the hell did he influence this behavior in them when he's not doing it as well?'

"Yea," was the old monks reply as he sat down next to Anko. "Hmm… what's that you got there?"

"Some kind of foreign beer he had," as she downed the rest of it. "He says that it's called Guinness."

"Ah that's the stuff he shared with me the last time," the monk muttered as he eyed his grandsons. "If only I remembered that he still had this bad habit of his…"

"How bad is it?"

"We'll be here for about half an hour waiting at least until he finishes." Just then he noticed that Jhadow swatted at Naruto's hand that was creeping towards the bowls. "Maybe longer if Naruto doesn't keep his hands away from the bowls." The boy tried again only to get smacked upside the head. It beginning to get a bit dangerous, so deciding to no longer indulge the man, Karasu stalked up to him and smashed his shakujo on top of Jhadow's head. "Enough, we're here to celebrate you moving in and it was with the kindness of my heart that I decided to bring you food."

The man glared at the old monk as he rubbed his head and pouted, it was a comical sight for Anko and he laughed at Jhadow's expense. After the ridiculous ritual that Jhadow was ended, the man pulled out the four bowls and set one at each seat around his small table. He offered both adults some of his beer, but Karasu pulled out a jug of sake and passed it around instead to each person, including Naruto. Dinner wasn't one in silence; it was pretty noisy with the slurping coming from both of the old monk's grandsons. As that was going on, each of them shared what happened during their day.

When Naruto pulled out a scroll and told Jhadow what happened, Anko noted that is an odd thing to have happened, but she noticed a faint twitch at the corner of the man's mouth. He told Naruto that dinner is about being with friends and family and not about training and to come see him in the morning. The kunoichi couldn't quite agree with that answer if something weird like that happened, especially with the kid being the Kyubi's Jinchuuriki. She looked over to her right where Karasu sat; he gave her a look that told her to let it go.

Dinner ended up being similar to what it was the previous night, but a bit more rambunctious. They were celebrating Jhadow moving into the apartment, so some drinks were knocked back a bit. Naruto ended up falling asleep on the couch and was moved into the bedroom where Karasu would later leave him for their temple later on. Anko passed out as well but didn't quite make it to the door to leave and was turned towards the couch by Jhadow. With both his bed taken by the boy, and the party more or less over with his grandfather gone, Jhadow decided to take the chance and sat down on the couch. Dozing off into relatively peaceful slumber with a kunoichi passed out on his couch as well; and all through the night, his odd stereo unit played soft melodious music.

* * *

'Dreams are weird,' Naruto thought as he slowly began to wake up. That is Naruto's own belief from his own experience. The dream he dreamt that night felt so real, as if he wasn't dreaming at all yet he was. It confused him greatly as he ended up training with a small fox with black fur and purple eyes; it also had one tail. It couldn't have been the kitsune sealed within him; Kyubi was always described as having nine tails and red fur. There was absolutely no way that it was, but no matter what he told himself, his body within the dream kept on following the fox's instructions, following through each stance that was in the scroll that Jhadow gave him and others that weren't.

Slowly opening his eyes, the first thing that he noticed was that he was in an unfamiliar room. The next as he looked to the side, was that very same fox using the side of the bed as support to stand while staring at him. Making eye contact, the fox began to grin and held up one paw and said, "Yo!"

"What the hell!"

* * *

Authors Note: I know that I said that I wouldn't really do many Author Notes, but I felt I should explain somethings. I particularly HATE long drawn out fight scenes filled with detailed actions. If it's something that I noticed about the authors of , is that a long detailed fight scene could take up an entire chapter or cover multiple chapters. The same goes for boring training sequences that go into the detailed actions of each character of what they do each day. As interesting as they are, don't expect me to write up either a long drawn fight scene or a boring detailed training regime. If I do anything, it'll only last for a bit and show the characters off a bit and allow everyone to learn something new about them. As far as pairings go for this story, don't expect them to really happen until much later on. I know that some twelve year old's go out with each other at times, but nothing really comes of it. Even then at the age of 12 or 13, Sakura couldn't possibly _love_ Sasuke for real. The same goes for Hinata as well. I'm going to explore these relationships and take it easy; too fast and it's dull and leaves much to be desired unless the story began that way.

One more thing, some of you might notice that I recently removed all but this one. They were jokes and each of them were incomplete. I'm only going to be concentrating on "The Monk" and another story that has been on my mind for a while now. This new one is a minor crossover with another series that I've noticed that no one attempted to combine Naruto with. What the series is, I won't tell. Why I'm gonna do this? Well that's because I'm tired of seeing Naruto with a Byakugan, Sharingan, or the Rinnegan and I would like to explore a different side of Naruto. It'll be so much more interesting to see how the changes will play out compared to having one of those three doujutsu's.

Anyway if you have any comments on the chapter, leave a review. If you have any questions for me, just send a Private Message. If the question is pertaining to the story I might not answer it unless it's really minor; if you need clarification for something within, it should be fine. As a reader, I shouldn't have to explain everything to you. Having everything explained will only take away from the story.


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the sole property of Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Five**

Warmth; that was what she felt as she was returning to the realm of dreams. An unfamiliar warmth to her yet it was pleasant. Snuggling closer to the warmth she realized that she was not lying in her bed and that she was leaning against someone; if the peaceful rhythm to breathing was anything to guess by.

This realization lasted all of five seconds before a very familiar yet painful sensation bombarded her head. "Fucking hangover," Anko muttered as she pushed away from the man while sending him a glare. It did nothing to the man; he was asleep on his couch with one arm behind the backrest and the other on the armrest. As she slowly stood up, the kunoichi looked around the room, already knowing that she didn't make it home the previous night; but had no idea what happened after she passed out. Waking up in unfamiliar surroundings with someone she had only known for day, after a night of drinking wasn't something that she cared for, it made her feel vulnerable; despite being one door away. From what she could tell however, is that nothing happened to her.

Placing her hand on the knob to leave the apartment, she gave the man one last glance. Stopping as she noticed that he had one eye lazily open and staring at her with indifference. Oh how she hated that look at the moment, however her train of thought ended abruptly at the sound of Naruto shouting, "What the hell!"

Jhadow casually looked over at the door to what she can only guess to be his bedroom and he made no move to get up. Seeing this she quickly strode across the apartment to the door.

A fox, a black fox was in his face and just greeted him. No it wasn't just a fox, it was a kitsune! As quick as he saw it, it was gone just as quickly once he leapt back. Frantically looking around the room, he grabbed his shakujo that was leaning against the wall next to the bed. In his panic, he didn't notice the door to the room open; he did notice that someone managed to get close to him, so figuring that it was the kitsune, he lashed out at her perceived threat.

His shakujo was stopped by Anko as she glared down at him. Seeing her look down at him made him feel very small, much smaller, as if he was a mere bug that needed to be squished. "What's going on here," she was annoyed from what he could tell. The boy couldn't blame her really; he attacked her with his shakujo.

Glancing around after pulling back his shakujo, he said, "A black furred kitsune was in here."

Looking around bare room herself, she couldn't help but note that it had to be long gone at this point. How it got in there, she had no idea unless it was somehow related to the Kyuubi sealed within him… No it couldn't be, the Kyuubi no Yoko had red fur, not black, she saw him once during the incident when she was nine and it was a big red fur ball of absolute terror. Thinking back to that, she remembered the conversation from yesterday with Jhadow about that cosmicism thing he was talking about. She did feel small and insignificant when she saw the fox; many of her peers did feel the same that night.

"Here Anko-han," Jhadow said as he handed her a glass of water and two pills. "Ancient Hangover cures!" She took the glass and downed the two pills; a few moments later, she began to feel the pain go away. "Morning Naruto, how are you doing this fine day?"

The way he said that, it was as if nothing was wrong at all. 'How could he be so calm when Naruto, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko just woke up to see a kitsune next to him,' Anko thought as she glared at the man as he stepped past her and crouched down to eye level with the young monk.

"Hmm… looks like you are stronger now then yesterday," the man stated as he looked at the top of the shakujo. Naruto followed his gaze and noticed that his shakujo now had three rings instead of two. "Tell me, what are your thoughts on the forms?"

Both Anko and Naruto were flabbergasted at how casual he was being about the whole situation. "There was a kitsune in here and you want to talk about those forms," Naruto asked as he eyed the man strangely. Naruto knew that the man couldn't possibly know about his condition, but for a kitsune to be here is a sign for trouble if anything at all.

"They felt right," Jhadow stated with a smile while ignoring the boy. "You felt strong; you have the _right stuff_. I can tell just by looking at both your eyes and your shakujo now."

"Um… what about the kitsune?"

"What kitsune?"

"The one that was in here."

Jhadow cocked his head to one side, as if listening to something; surprisingly he gave a few nods as if agreeing with something before chuckling. "Nothing to worry about, he's not going to be bothering you."

"What do you mean?"

Jhadow looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. "Don't worry about it, with that little guy around, you should be just fine." Looking down, Naruto noticed that Slime was popping his head up out of his clothes. "You have very fine partners kid; they will help and guide you."

"So… did you add a ring to my staff?" Looking over the staff, it was very strange for it to have gained a ring. There was no way for it to be done without the rings being snap on.

The man shook his head and took the shakujo from his hands. "No, the stronger you become, the more rings appear," he explained as the staff changed in his hands. It was longer to match his size and had five rings at the top. "Didn't Gramps tell you how special your shakujo is? It reacts to your growth." He then passed it off to Anko and it lost a ring. "The max number of rings is five; it signifies that you are a master. You gained a third ring because those forms I shared with you are very special, very powerful. Not everyone can learn it, only those with the _right stuff_ can fully utilize them." He took the staff back from the kunoichi and held it lovingly, his face reflecting nostalgia. "You have an Uchiha on your team right?" The boy nodded as Jhadow's expression confused him. "If he used his doujutsu, his Sharingan, he would be able to copy the forms, but he would never be able to utilize what it actually offers." Handing the staff back to the boy, he continued. "Well, that is just an example, he might have the _right stuff_ but it's hard to tell."

"And what is this _right stuff_ that you're talking about," Anko asked, finally joining the conversation and free of her hangover. She had to admit, the man knows how to take care of hangovers. The man looked thoughtful for a moment but didn't say anything. "You know what it is right?"

"It's a secret," Jhadow said with a smirk. "You'll find out eventually, but not today. You both have lots to do, and I still have to take care of unpacking. Before you go though, I'll whip up some breakfast for the both of you."

"Maybe another time, I have to get going," Anko said as she left the room. "I'll see you guys later." After a moment, the cousins heard the front door open and then close.

"So, what do you say about having ramen for breakfast," Jhadow asked as he turned back to the boy. From what he could tell, Jhadow had the very same gleam in his eye that Gramps always said whenever ramen was involved. He thrust his fist into the air and shouted his agreement. 'Oh how we have so much in common,' Jhadow thought with a grin as he began to prepare breakfast for the two of them; a hearty meal of at least five bowls of ramen each.

Over the course of the meal, both Naruto and Jhadow learned more about the other as they bonded over the ramen. "I like my team Nii-san, but it's very hard at times to like them," Naruto stated as he looked down at the table. "Kakashi-sensei is great, but it's just that both of my teammates don't really give me the time of day. Ever sense the academy, my ninjutsu skills may not be great but I know that I'm strong. I easily make up for it with my taijutsu…"

"You're skills will only improve over time," Jhadow interrupted. "If there is one thing that I've learned in my life, is that the only opinion's that you should concern yourself with is you're own, your families, and your friends."

"Yea, but it doesn't change how I feel though."

Nodding his head, Jhadow said, "It doesn't, but over time it will get better. So are you excited about participating in the Chunin Selection Exam?" He received a confused look from the boy. "Didn't Kakashi-han tell you that he nominated you for it? Oh… he didn't tell you yet did he."

The boy didn't know how to feel, on one hand, he was excited to know that his sensei has faith in his abilities to be promoted, but the other was annoyance at not knowing sooner. Though he was curious as to how his cousin knew this, so he asked and was told that he was at the meeting yesterday; said meeting happened not long after his training session for the day ended. "He was probably going to tell us about it today."

"Well I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's just an exam to test your abilities and skills as a ninja. You'd probably have to deal with surviving in the wilderness at some point and deal with handling information if I know anything about ninja's at all. Do you have any skills to help you with wilderness survival?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nothing really besides the basics that were covered in the academy and what Gramps taught me."

The man leaned back in his chair and looked thoughtful for a moment before leaning forward. "Hey, would you like me to teach you a nifty jutsu that I created? It's really a great boon when dealing with wilderness survival, especially when you're low on supplies." Naruto nodded, interested in learning something. "Okay, follow me as I make the signs. Yea that's it, just mold you're chakra into those signs. Finish with this sign and bingo… a cookie! Wow you're just as fast at learning stuff as I do."

In a poof of smoke, a chocolate chip cookie appeared in Naruto's hand once the jutsu was completed. "Um… really?" Jhadow nodded as he ate his cookie. "As interesting as this is, it is kind of lame…"

"The Cookie Jutsu is all right," the man admitted. "I don't know why, but the jutsu summons a cookie from some place that I don't know of."

"Where did you learn this?"

"I created it myself when I was bored and tried to summon ramen instead… Still can't figure that part out unfortunately." Both lamented over that. "How about this, if I can't do it, I'll expect you to do what I couldn't. Of course I'd like to learn it immediately just as I would teach you it."

"You go it Nii-san," the boy exclaimed. "Hey Nii-san, do you mind telling me about your family?" Jhadow's smile faded to a frown, making Naruto uncomfortable. "Um… I was curious because you gave me this scroll and said it was for your own child."

* * *

"I know," the man said as he stood up and walked over to coat. Reaching into it, he pulled out a scroll that Naruto can only guess to be about the same size as the Forbidden Scroll of Seals that Mizuki had him steal weeks ago. Opening the scroll, he searched across the various seals on the parchment before stopping over one. In a burst of smoke, a very old portrait appeared in Jhadow's hands. Walking back over to the table, he handed Naruto the portrait; Naruto noted that it was a painted portrait showing Jhadow standing next to a very beautiful woman with long white hair wearing a white wedding kimono. "That is both me and my wife Kagero. She was a great woman who had a will unlike any one that I've ever seen. Though it was only matched by my own. She died one day while I was away doing a job. Someone broke into our home and killed her and took our child. I don't know what happened to our child, but I can only hope that wherever our child is that they have been cared for." As he glanced down at the portrait that now laid on the table in front of the boy, he smiled. "Though I'll tell you this, if they were still around, my child would have had the_ right stuff_ and be able to learn what you're learning." He finished with a smirk that confused Naruto.

"Well I gotta get going now Nii-san," the young monk said as he handed the portrait back before standing up. "I'll see ya later."

"Yea, have a good day," Jhadow said as the boy walked to the door. "If you ever need any help, feel free to give me a holler." Naruto nodded and left the apartment. Jhadow sat there for a few moments before staring at the portrait of him and his wife.

Walking through the streets, Naruto couldn't help but reflect on what went on that morning. He knows for sure that he saw a kitsune, and that he wasn't seeing things. What was worse was that he saw that same kitsune in his dream…

That was odd though, he can remember the dream almost perfectly; remember each move of each form that performed with the assistance of the kitsune. That was weird in the boy's opinion, never before has he had a dream like that before. So lost in thought, he was violently shaken from them when he walked past a red heard boy with a large gourd strapped to his back. He didn't turn around; he just stopped in the middle of the street. The feeling that he felt from the boy wasn't anything like he ever felt before. Naruto has seen his fair share of spirits and demons and what he felt from the boy was beyond anything before.

After some time, the darkness he felt passed, and he began to continue his trip to the bridge where his team normally met. He was going to tell his grandfather before about what happened that morning, but now this just made it to the list. The monk knew that he had to school himself, it wouldn't do to look like a wreck in front of his teammates like he did back in Wave Country.

As he approached the bridge, he noticed that both his teammates were already waiting there. Sasuke was leaning against the rail and Sakura was near him; from what the monk could tell, she was trying to ask the Uchiha out again but failed if the depressed look on his face was anything to go by. "Good morning," the boy greeted with a wave.

"You're late Naruto," the kunoichi stated as she stared at the monk. The Uchiha didn't deign to acknowledge Naruto's presence at all; not even a nod. "Just because Kakashi-sensei is always late doesn't mean that you should too."

"Sorry, I crashed at my cousin's new place after we partied." The boy sheepishly scratched the back of his head before letting his hat hang off the back of his neck. "Gramps left me there and I had breakfast with him. Nii-san is cool and all, but very weird."

"You have a cousin?"

"Just found out two days ago. He's been travelling the world for a long time before coming to see Gramps. Kakashi-sensei met him after we came back from Wave Country."

"What is he like?" The monk knew Sakura would never admit it, but he knew that she was a bit curious to learn about her more 'open' teammate, even if he was a monk and not as cool as the Uchiha.

"He seems cool, but a bit weird. When I was over last night, he was still unpacking but had lots of books out. Many that had letters that I couldn't understand." He looked thoughtful, trying to remember his encounters with Jhadow. "He's confusing at times. Remember those taijutsu forms that I was going through? He didn't explain anything about the style aside from the fact that it's supposed to be really powerful." That peaked Sasuke's interest if the tilt of the head was anything to judge. "Nii-san was confusing and wouldn't really explain anything about them besides that I have the _right stuff_ and that if his child was still around, they would have had the _right stuff_ as well."

That sobered up both of his teammates, especially Sasuke. Naruto knew for a fact that Sasuke's clan was murdered by his older brother, Itachi; well the entire village knew this, and the death of a family member could possibly be sympathized by the Uchiha to a degree.

However, Sakura's train of thought went somewhere else. "He said that you have the _right stuff_ and that if his child would have had the _right stuff _as well?"

"Um… yea he said that."

"Sound's like a bloodline thing," the kunoichi stated as she gave her full attention to the monk. "A bit of a weird one, but I guess that the Hyuuga are the same way. Did you ever know about this before?" The boy shook his head, but he knew where she was going with this. "Odd… I know that with the Hyuuga, anyone can use the Hyuuga Gentle Fist, but only they can really utilize it from having the Byakugan. What do you have to take advantage of it?"

"All I have is the _right stuff_." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll have to talk to both Gramps and Nii-san later about this. We're going to be visiting him again later to help him finish settling into his new apartment."

"Ah going to visit your cousin Naruto," the ever persistently late jonin said as he appeared in a burst of smoke. "Well guys, I don't have much planned for you today. Anyway, I have an announcement to make; yesterday after our training ended, Hokage-sama was holding a meeting for the upcoming Chunin Selection Exams." That caught all of the genin's attentions. "I nominated all three of you for the exams."

"So Nii-san wasn't lying earlier?"

Kakashi frowned a bit under his mask. "He told you about that?" Naruto explained what he was told that morning. "Well he's only half right about what's to be involved; but its far hasher then what he believes it to be." The both Naruto and Sakura gulped at hearing that, though Sasuke seemed excited. "You'll be testing with other ninja's from around the world and competing for the chance to become chunin. Though don't let what I say deter you from taking the exams." Naruto noticed that Kakashi made eye contact with both him and Sakura, but lasted for a bit on his own. While staring at him, Kakashi tilted his head to the side so slightly that if Naruto didn't know better, he would have believed it to have never happened. "I wouldn't have nominated you guys if I didn't believe in you. Especially you Sakura, you have really shaped up quite a bit since we first started. Out of everyone here, you've improved the most." Naruto was a bit upset about the lack of praise for the entire team but knew it to be true; Sakura was the most improved on the team, even if she wasn't the strongest. The monk took note of the angry glance that Sasuke gave both the kunoichi and jonin; as if he was going to protest but didn't.

"Remember, strength and power isn't everything," the jonin continued as he looked over the entire team now. "It's a part of it, but you're all still growing. You just left the academy a few months ago. It'll take time to really blossom, and this exam can… how should I say this? Oh tend to your growth like a gardener tending to his flowers." The man reached into his pouch and pulled out three distinct scrolls. "Here I have a scroll for the each of you. Until the day before the exam, I want each of you to train on your own. Each scroll will have details on what I'd like you to work on before the exams begin on the first of July. We won't meet until the very start of the exams where I will only see you off. Now take your scrolls and remember that if you need help, seek me out and ask."

The genin complied, but as Naruto made to pull the scroll away from the jonin, the man held onto it and looked him in the eye for a brief moment. Once the scroll was in the young blonde's hand, it felt just as heavy as the scroll from the day before. Kakashi was just contemplating if he was worthy of it and deemed him so. Pride welled in his heart as he looked over the closed scroll; it looked old, not as old as Jhadow's, but still aged.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura called out, catching the monk's attention. She had her scroll open; it looked brand new. "You want me to work on physical conditioning?"

The man nodded. "Yes, of all the things that you need to improve upon Sakura, you need to work out more and increase your chakra reserves. What you do between now and then may not be much, but its better then nothing. You make that a routine to do and you'll be able to match your teammates at some point; you have the technique, now you just need the strength and stamina."

"Sensei, this is ridiculous," the Uchiha growled out as he closed his own new looking scrolls. "I do not need to work on my forms. They are fine as they…"

"No they aren't." The jonin stopped the boy before he could roll on. "If they were then both Naruto and Sakura wouldn't exploit them as often as they do." The Uchiha growled. "Sasuke, you may have a large chakra reserve, a few ninjutsu's under your belt, and the Sharingan; it means nothing if you leave yourself open for an enemy to slip in and kill you." The boy quieted after that. "Not everyone will be so nice to just punch you when you make the slip." Kakashi then glanced over at Naruto. "Not going to open it Naruto?"

Taking that as his cue, the boy carefully, very carefully unrolled the scrolled. His eyes skimmed the parchment before settling back to the first line. "A jutsu," the monk asked as he closed it.

The jonin nodded, while Sasuke gave him an envious look. "Out of the three of you, you don't need much aside from gaining experience, and learning jutsu," the man explained. "With your massive chakra reserve, you really could use some more jutsu under your belt aside from the Kage Buunshin." Kakashi dismissed both Sakura and Sasuke. The kunoichi attempted to ask him out once again but was shot down. Once they were both gone, Kakashi returned his attention to Naruto. He kneeled down to be at eye level with the boy. "Naruto, what I gave you is a jutsu that my own sensei taught me when I was you're age. He made it himself and it took him three years before he mastered it."

"Who was he?"

"Namikaze Minato."

At that moment, Naruto felt like his grandfather had just hit him over the head with his staff at that moment. He would have never suspected that Kakashi was the Yondaime Hokage's jonin sensei, but here it was after looking over the scroll once more. At the top, it had the name of the jutsu and right below that in fine print was the man's name. "Sensei, do you really believe that I should have this?"

The older man smiled and ruffled his head. "Yes I do believe that you should have this. I'm sure that he would have liked you to have it." Thoughts of the man cause the boy to stiffen, remembering what the man did. Sealing the Kyuubi no Yoko inside of him when he was just born, "Sensei would have wanted you to be prepared and what better way to be prepared then with his own personal jutsu?"

The boy nodded, definitely feeling great weight placed in his hands now. It felt heavier then Jhadow's at the moment. His cousin's scroll was a scroll meant for his lost child; but this scroll came straight from the legendary Namikaze Minato, the greatest ninja to have come from Konoha, and the man who defeated the Kyuubi no Yoko. "Thank you Sensei," Naruto whispered as he bowed.

"You're welcome Naruto." The man then stood up. "Though as great and powerful as it is, the technique isn't even finished yet. It was something that I couldn't do, and neither could Minato-sensei have pulled off. Maybe you can if you gave it you're all." Naruto nodded his head furiously. "You can go now. Remember, if you need any help, don't be afraid to ask." With that said, the jonin disappeared the same way he appeared, in a burst of smoke.

Seeing that as the signal that the meeting was officially over, he now had to pick what to do. He could go back home that was on the outskirts of the village or head back to town and help his cousin out. The boy knew that the plan was to go later on and help Jhadow, but he saw this as a chance to just hang out with his cousin a bit more. Sure he was older than him and a tad weird, but it was something. Living only with his grandfather for so long and never really knowing who his parents were aside; of course Karasu told him that his mother was Uzumaki Kushina, but he had no idea as to who his father was. Maybe his cousin would know who they were, now that he thought about it. If Jhadow was his cousin, then he would have to know something about his parent's right?

With new determination, he began to set forth for his cousin's place once again.

Until his stomach rumbled; he made the seals that he just learned that morning and poof a cookie appeared. "As odd as it is, it does have its uses," the boy mumbled as he ate his cookie.

Naruto found himself in front of the now familiar door. He rapped his knuckles across it a few times. Hearing movement coming from the inside, he readied himself for his cousin to open the door. When the door opened, he was surprised to find his cousin looking like he just woke up. "Damn it, what's with people coming over right when I'm sleeping," he mumbled right as he opened the door. "Oh Naruto, what's up?"

"Kakashi-sensei gave us the rest of the week of train on our own to prepare for the exams; and I wanted to help you out." The boy stepped through the portal and into the living area. It didn't look like his cousin got anything done aside from the dishes from breakfast. Looking over the table, he noticed that the huge scroll was now set on it.

"Thanks for the offer Naruto." He ruffled Naruto's hair, much to the boy's annoyance. Sure Kakashi did it earlier, but at that moment, he was deeply touched by his the older man. "If you don't mind me asking, did Kakashi-han leave you anything to do before the exam?" The boy nodded and produced the scroll and explained what was in it.

"Would you like to look it over while I pull out some more stuff?" He offered the boy the couch even though he didn't really want to work on it yet, he went to sit down to study what laid within the scroll. "I'll be taking care of the stuff while you work on that, but if you need anything, feel free to ask."

That was what Naruto did for most of his time there; he sat on that couch, reading over the notes that were written by the man who many consider to be the greatest Hokage of all time, as his cousin would go back and forth from the scroll to some spot in the apartment. Looking up from time to time, it began to look more homely to the boy. However his cousin wasn't in sight. Glancing around he found him coming from the kitchen area with two glasses of water. Taking the offered glass he took a sip as his cousin sat down next to him. "So how is it," the man asked as he glanced over the notes.

The young monk laid the scroll across his lap, "I remember seeing Pervy Sage use this once in a sparring match with Gramps." Looking at his cousin, he took the hint to explain. "Pervy Sage is my godfather who my mom chose for me should anything happen to her. He stops by from time to time to see we're doing, but that one time, both Gramps and Pervy Sage decided to cut loose. It was really cool to see Gramps in such a highly intense fight. Pervy Sage almost had him a few times and nearly got him with this jutsu. He missed but he destroyed a boulder in the forest near the temple." Naruto then frowned. "According to Kakashi-sensei, the Yondaime Hokage created this jutsu and it took him three years to master…" His eyes then lit up at the sight of a raging sphere of chakra floating above his cousin's hand. "What the? How could?"

All of a sudden the show ended when Jhadow closed his fist. "It's really an interesting technique."

"But how could you do that so fast?" Naruto was babbling at this point from shock and was waving his arms around.

The man blinked a few times before looking at his hand and forming another sphere. He then closed his fist and repeated the jutsu a few more times. "Naruto, it's not the first time that I did shape manipulation before. Even then, I've master my body a long time ago. For me to actually take time and learn something new, it really has to be something brand new or some kind of scholarly pursuit. They really do give me the most pleasure these days…"

"Still, it took the greatest Hokage three years to create and master it!"

"And the concepts behind it aren't all that new. They've been around for a very _long_ time."

"Yea but still…" The boy sighed, knowing defeat. "Um… do you know who my father is?" Naruto will admit he was a bit timid when asking that, but Jhadow gave him a confused look. "I was wondering if you knew since my mom, Kushina is your aunt." Naruto noticed the raise brow on his cousin's face. "I thought that you'd know since Gramps doesn't."

Jhadow sighed this time and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto, I really don't know. I've been out of touch with the family for a _long_ time and even then the only one that I've been in touch with has been Gramps." The man then glanced to his book shelf. "Hmm… I knew a Kushina before, but it's very unlikely that she was your mother. She was an apprentice of mine _many_ years ago. Very bright, and very strong, but she was the middle child of the family. Older and younger brother's had everything that they're mother had. The older had her doujutsu and chakra while the younger one had her body and will. As per the customs of the society, when Pimiko-sama passed on, her chosen successor had to be one of her sons. Kushina was passed over without a thought. She became bitter towards her brothers who would later end up in a blood feud." He leaned back into the couch while looking at Naruto in the eyes. "I'm going to be honest with you Naruto, but know that I'm only speculating here. Gramps has never settled down with a woman. He has no kids of his own, he adopts." The thought of Gramps not being his grandfather was a terrifying thought as the boy started to quiver. "He's adopted me and most likely your mom too if that Pervy Sage of yours is anything to go by. Though that would make her my sister then wouldn't it?"

Naruto had no idea as to what to say, he felt empty with the revelations made to him by… this stranger. "But…"

"Naruto, family is more then just blood," Jhadow explained as he pulled the boy close to him while putting him into a headlock. "It's the bonds we share with each other! He's been there for you and me since day one and he'll always be there for us! One more thing, don't you dare call me Uncle! I prefer cousin!" He then proceeded to give Naruto a nuggie; the boy tried to thrash out of his cousin's headlock but it was a futile effort until he swung a fist into the older mans stomach. Hearing a satisfying grunt, Naruto managed to free himself of his cousin's grasp.

"Take that Nii-san!"

"Why you lousy no good rotten brat," the man muttered as he reached out for the boy once again, only to meet air as Naruto fled the couch with a grin. The boy's victory was short lived when something hit him right between the eyes. The object exploded off of his face, leaving crumbs on both him and the floor. "This means War!"

* * *

Strolling through the streets of Konoha once again, Karasu couldn't help but look towards the setting sun. He's seen many sights before in his life, many beautiful and many ugly, but the sun setting behind the monument was one that he couldn't help but stare at. The rest of the world was missing as he stood in the street with the bag of groceries that he bought for his grandson. The villagers, civilians and ninja alike, they were mere insects in that moment, completely ignored as he looked towards the faces of the four leaders of the village.

He never understood why the people of the village felt compelled to sculpt the faces of their Hokage's onto the mountain side. It felt like they held a strange form of reverence for them which felt out of place for the old monk. 'Humans are weird,' he thought as he reflected on the actions of humans in the past.

After a few moments, the moment was lost and he continued his journey to his grandson's apartment. People who were on their way home, moved out of his way when they heard the rings of his shakujo and saw him. Few greeted him, and even fewer dared to meet his eyes, not really comprehending what they were seeing. He's been into the village many times over the years, and it still amazes him that the people just can't believe that he walks the very same streets as they do. Sure some view him with disgust for his younger grandson; others look at him as a means to keep the same grandson under control. Whose better at protecting them from the biju then a monk? However, despite these views, it wasn't easy for him and Naruto since that day a little over a decade ago. The people viewed him with distrust, a few tried to make attempts on both his and Naruto's life.

It helped being looked favorably upon by both the Sandaime Hokage and the Hyuuga Hiashi, but what helped both him and Naruto out the most over the years was his ability to offer support where the Fire Temple of the Red Sect failed to do. Villagers would visit once in a while, but it was mostly when some little trouble-making spirit or demon showed up causing some kind of mischief. The monks of the Fire Temple were mostly retired ninja's and had no real training in the matter; they sought personal _enlightenment_ through the graces of whichever of the many beings that they choose to worship as part of the Order. It's not like they can't handle a goblin or spirit, it's just that they don't know how to handle them _most _of the time.

Glancing around, he noticed the building, but as he approached, he noticed someone. "Good evening Anko-chan," he greeted as he joined her by the front entrance. "How have you been?"

"Hey Old Man," she returned as she opened the door. "Eh, doing all right. Just a long day with preparing for the Exams." Even if he knew why the Exams existed, it seemed like a foolish way to go about for a promotion.

'These Chunin Selection Exams are really foolish,' he thought as he stared at her. He knew that she knew of his own personal dislike for the exams. When she took the exams, it was after he finally began to get her settled down after Orochimaru's treachery, that he was worried sick about her own safety. Before she took them, he's seen a few of them and directed the funerals of those who were claimed by The End; to him, this was just another waste of life where ninjas use this as a way to conduct war. His grandson Jhadow might like the idea of it but he would frown upon it. The man may not show it, but he loves war and what it offers, but not what he would deem as nothing more then an extreme war game. "It's that time already."

"Yea, it is, and I'm in charge of the second exam, so I have to oversee and make sure that everything is in place." As she let him in, she continued. "Hey Old Man, are those really his eyes?"

The old man paused, not expecting to be asked that question. "Did he show you his eyes?"

She nodded and shivered, he took that as something odd, the last time he saw his eyes they never warranted that kind of reaction. "I don't know how he can stand those damn eyes, they are just so wrong."

"What did he show you exactly?"

"His eyes were replaced with those of an octopus."

He was silent for a brief moment before he chuckled. "Anko-chan, Jhadow was just pulling your leg there. He loves illusions, and used them for a greater part of his life. So don't take what he may or may not show you at face value. Sadly, it became a habit of his to place an illusion over his eyes for his own protection from when he was younger and it just stuck."

"He has a doujutsu or something?"

"It'something, and not a doujutsu." He shrugged as he began to walk again. "If he really trusts you, he might show you what's under the illusion, but let me tell you something first. I'm not sure how many times he's actually showed his eyes to others since it the habit is so ingrained that he tends to forget about it most of the time. He might have changed, so I don't really know, but he might hold back for a while because of Naruto."

Closing the door, she quickly joined him by his side. "Does it have something to do with that style he is showing Naruto? Earlier he said that the kid had the _right stuff_."

Karasu paused, not really sure how to continue. On the one hand, he knew about the style, but was surprised to know that the boy really did have the _right stuff_ to perform it to its fullest. And on the other hand, it really was a matter for his grandsons to discuss between themselves. Taking a few moments to compose his response, he began, "You know how Jiraiya-dono is the Toad Sage right? Very few can become a Toad Sage because the person needs to have a very large chakra reserve. In theory anyone can, but that is only if their Will is strong enough to handle the strain of the training."

"Are you saying that Naruto is undergoing a type of Sage training?"

"It's similar to that." The old man began to ascend the stairs. "Jiraiya-dono's body shows physical changes when he is harnessing the energies used by the Toad Sages. It's similar with what Jhadow has done, but it's permanent. He most likely doesn't want to frighten the boy either, considering what is going on with his life."

"Speaking of the kid, he saw a kitsune as soon as he woke up," she said as she followed right behind him. "Know anything about that one there?"

"Was Jhadow concerned?" She told him what happened that morning. "Then it's nothing to worry about." It was then that they reached his destination. "Would you like to stay over again for dinner Anko-chan? I'm sure that he'll do as fine a job as he did the other night."

She gave the old monk a suspicious glance before asking, "Is this because he's better at cooking then you?"

"A little bit. I'd prefer you having dinner with us tonight, especially when you're literally next door. There is no need to be alone tonight."

She considered it for a bit. It didn't take her long to decide, but kept the thoughtful look up longer then it actually took. The kunoichi knew that the monk was right about Jhadow being a good cook, but she also knew that her apartment would be lonely. "Only for dinner," she finally said as she pushed the door open without a care in the world. Karasu raised an eyebrow and the kunoichi shrugged her shoulders. As they both entered, they stopped at the sight of the apartment. Some work was done, various items were out now, but more books then before and a few items to make it feel more homely. Some pictures on a shelf, a portrait hanging from a wall, and a small work area with what looked to be journals on top were on display in the room. What caught there eyes however was the two occupants of the apartment.

Sitting at the kitchen table, both Jhadow and Naruto were flipping cards and revealing them to each other. If one won an exchange, they took the cards, if they matched cards; they had a throw down and saw who would take the pile. They were both looking at each other with such intensity that it seemed unreal. The cousins didn't even acknowledge that both their grandfather and Jhadow's neighbor came in. "What are you doing," Karasu finally asked as he walked over to the kitchen area to set the bag down.

"War," was Jhadow's answer.

"How long have you been at it?"

"Several hours."

"Same game?" Jhadow nodded and the old monk sighed. "If you were going to play cards, why that game?"

"It's war."

"And its fun," Naruto chimed in as he slapped another card down and claimed Jhadow's own. "Ha take that!" It was then that they matched each others card and had a throw down. That time Jhadow took the pile.

"Mind taking over Gramps, I should start dinner soon," the man said as he got up and finally noticed Anko. "Hey, didn't notice you for a moment. Having dinner with us?" She nodded and began looking over the apartment. "If you want, you read some of my books Anko-han while I take care of dinner." She nodded but sat down and watched the old man and Naruto play the card game.

She sat there for a while, becoming bored from just watching the two play the game. If there was one card game that she knew she hated, it was War. It could end quickly or drag on for hours at a time if the players aren't lucky enough. So seeing that it would take a while, she moved over to the bookshelf and looked over what was there.

Most of it she couldn't begin to read, but there were a few she could and one that had an author that she recognized. Grabbing that one she sat down on the couch. "So when did you pick up Jiraiya-sama's novel, _The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja_?"

"Eh, yesterday before we met for lunch," the man said from the kitchen area. "I wanted something new to read and it looked interesting. Though I am curious as to why the clerk tried to point me towards his other books. They looked interesting for a romance…" The kunoichi snorted. "Something wrong with them?"

"Yea, the man is a well known pervert and those books are loaded down with smut."

"Have you read them?"

"Not really but the books are only sold to those who are eighteen or older and it's well known that the man peeps on woman at the bathhouses." As Anko was reading the book, she didn't notice the shiver that Karasu had or the look that his two grandsons gave him. "Besides, knowing the man and knowing the target audience, I'm not too keen on reading it anytime soon. Though I am surprised that he wrote this."

"According to the clerk, it was his first novel. Though you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover until you start it. Now you got me interested in checking out his other books."

"What are you a pervert?" Both Anko and Naruto gave the man incredulous looks.

"Ouch you wound me once again fair maiden," the man with mock pain as he stopped his preparations. "Everyone is a pervert, _especially_ my boss for some odd reason."

"Who is your boss," Naruto asked as he claimed a pile of cards. He was finally getting an upper hand and had Karasu on the ropes.

As Jhadow began again, he answered, "A little old man named Kittobi."

"Hey Gramps, is that Pervy Monk?" Karasu nodded while Jhadow laughed. "Yea, he's a really _dirty _old monk."

"You don't know a tenth of it."

"Hey Gramps, I have a few question for you," Naruto stated, ignoring the conversation between both his cousin and Anko. "I was walking to the meeting place for my team today, and something happened. Well two things if you count what happened this morning when I woke up." The boy then explained what happened today and what he felt as he passed the red-headed boy on the way to his meeting. When asked what the boy looked like, as far as distinguishing features, he gave that as well.

After a few moments of silence, Karasu finally answered. "That sounds like Sabaku no Gaara, the third Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku." Everything stopped at that moment. "What, you think that I didn't keep tabs on the Biju? What kind of member of the Order do you take me for? They fall under my domain so it's only natural that I keep an eye on them from time to time."

"Does that mean I'm under your domain as well," Naruto asked with a growl towards the end. Not realizing until after what he said aloud and cast a fearful glance at his cousin who just went back to work after Karasu's answer.

"You are," the monk began. "Yet what I meant is that I keep tabs on where a Biju is and who is the Jinchuuriki for it if there is one. Besides, you're the only one I meddle with, and that's just because you're my cute and adorable grandson who just got his ass handed to him in War."

"What?" Glancing down, Naruto just realized that he only had one card left and it was a two.

"Take this," the monk threw down his own card and with the odds, he matched the two that Naruto played. "Still win by attrition."

Sighing, the boy leaned back in his chair. "Gramps, are you really my gramps?"

Looking at the boy with confusion, Karasu glanced towards Jhadow who shrugged. Anko looked on with confusion as she set the book in her lap. "What gave you that idea?"

"Well Jhadow-niisan said that you adopted him and most likely adopted mom as well."

"To be honest, Kushina wasn't my child," the monk admitted. "I adopted you as my own grandson the moment that you became parentless."

"How did you manage that one," the kunoichi asked as she leaned forward.

"I was passing through when the attack happened. And I really didn't want to leave you here on your own after your folks passed away. I was originally planning on spiriting you away and leaving you somewhere else but after seeing you're cute and adorable self, I just couldn't resist!"

"Why?"

"Oh I don't know, I guess that I've always had a soft spot for orphans. Look at this idiot here; he's a very similar case," the monk admitted with a shrug and Jhadow chuckled. "I'm guessing that idiot told you about quite a bit about my past?"

"Only your relatively non-existent love life," Jhadow answered. "Seriously you old bird, you should have settled down a _long _time ago."

"And _you_ should have as well!"

"Eh, I'm a widower."

"Anyway, Naruto, that doesn't mean that I am not your grandfather…"

"You're his father," Anko interrupted.

"If you want to put it that way," the old monk sheepishly said. "But with my _advanced_ age, I really am more of a grandfather."

"Did you really know my mom?" Naruto finally asked.

"I knew her by reputation only and from what I've learned from Jiraiya-san. If you really want to learn more about her, he is who you should ask the next time he visits. He is you're godfather after all."

"If he is the kid's godfather, then why do you have him and not him?" Anko asked, trying to understand what is going on.

"He is a very busy man, despite his habits. His duties normally keep him away from the village for extended periods of time."

"Is he the same Jiraiya who wrote that book?" Jhadow asked, putting the finishing touches to dinner.

"The very same dirty old man." Anko answered as she resumed reading.

"Well dinner is ready," Jhadow exclaimed as he began to dish out the food.

Karasu and Naruto cleared the table while Anko put the book back on the shelf. "What is it this time?" As the kunoichi studied the food, she couldn't help but notice the ground beef placed in odd shells.

"Oh Divine Lord, is that what I think it is," Karasu mumbled as he began to lick his lips.

"Um... if you mean tacos then yes," Jhadow stated as he sat the tray down. Once it was placed, the old man snatched two which instantly vanished into his mouth. "Damn, I forgot how much you liked them."

"Are you kidding boy, I still remember my first bite!" The monk reached for another but his hand was slapped away by both Anko and Jhadow.

"Save some for us Old Man," Anko growled as she took one for herself. When she took a bite out of the corn-shell, it crunched in her mouth. Savoring the taste of the ground beef, she had to admit that it was good. "So Naruto, did Kakashi tell you the big news?"

"Yea, he nominated us for the Chunin Selection Exams," as the boy said that, Karasu spat out his food all over Jhadow who just sat down. "Something wrong Gramps?"

"He's just worried about you," the kunoichi laughed as she patted the boy on the shoulder. "I remember when I took it; he did the exact same thing!"

"What's to worry about," Jhadow asked as he took a towel to wipe the beef off his face. "It's just an exam?"

"It's just not an exam," Karasu answered as he took a swig of his sake. "It's a war game where lives are on the line?"

"It's a mock war…"

"Yep," Anko chimed in cheerfully. "Where the stakes are high!"

"Does this pertain to the Cold War going on between the nations right now?"

"To keep it relatively cold, the nations hold a gathering once every six months where they pit genin against each other. It is a test, but if you don't past a part of it, both the genin and his team won't advance," Karasu answered, surprising Naruto since he was under the same assumption as Jhadow. "The genin that make it to the final round are on display for the lords and nobles of the nations. The better a genin performs, the more likely they'll become a chunin, but they will also bring more honor and prestige to the village that they hail from." He then rubbed his temple. "Why oh why did that man nominate you?"

"He said that it'll be a good experience for us," Naruto stated as he took another bite of his taco, comparing it to ramen. "It should be a good learning experience for us Gramps."

"It really is Old Man," Anko supported as she went back to her meal. "It was an eye opener and helps show how well you compare to those outside of the village."

"I guess that you can only go so far when you compare yourself against the same people over and over again," Jhadow explained as he sat back down and sent Karasu and dirty look. "Anyway, it's not like Kakashi-han is sending him in empty handed. I may not know the kid very well, but if I'm to go by my own experience with you, is that the kid is no slouch from what I can tell by his shakujo. He just gained his third ring this morning."

"I know I know," the monk admitted as he moved to take another taco. "It's just that I worry at times and feel that these exams are foolish. Though they do their job of maintaining stability for now in the nations."

"I wish it was a real war though," Jhadow muttered as he began to dig in much to the surprise of both of the younger occupants. "Would be much more fun with two or more forces clashing and testing to see whose ideals are stronger."

Silence reigned in the apartment for a while. The only sounds came from both Karasu and Jhadow eating their dinner. "You are a weird bastard," Anko finally said after staring at the man in surprise. As much as she enjoyed a good fight and killing her targets, she was never one to enjoy war; though she never really experienced it herself, but knew that there may come a time when she has to set out for one. That thought left her feeling a bit empty, along with the thought of her lonely apartment next door. The only ones who would most probably be waiting for her would be Karasu and maybe Naruto if he isn't sent off as well.

Jhadow gave Anko an amused smirk while pointing a finger at her as he leaned on the table. "You just never experienced war like I have Anko-han. It can either be a most glorious contest of strength and ideals," he began to say before becoming solemn. "Or it can be just senseless butchery if the fighting no longer involves the fighting forces. That is when war becomes truly horrible. The only ones who should be cut down are those who are prepared to cut others down."

"So you really fought in wars before."

"Yea, I have, and I loved most of them. I always hated it when a war becomes genocide. It is not how wars should be fought."

"You make it sound like Samurai should be the only ones to fight."

"No, ninjas have their places as well; it's just that they have to be used uniquely. Though in these lands, ninjas make up the mainstay of most armies so its fine."

"And there you go on about wars again," Karasu muttered as he finished his meal and took a swig of sake. "I don't know how the hell you ever began to romanticize war but you did not get that from me."

"Blame my boss if you're to blame anyone."

"Yesterday, you told me that you lost you're eyes in a battle," Anko said as she glanced over at Jhadow. "Was it true and how many battles have you fought in?"

Both Anko and Naruto looked expectantly at the man while Karasu looked on without interest. "Well I still have my eyes, I'm sure that Gramps told you about the illusion already, am I right?" Jhadow looked at Karasu who nodded. "I have an illusion over them of course." He waved his hand over them and they changed to match Naruto's, and with another wave they became just like Anko's before they became brown again. "What you see is what they used to look like. Why the illusion? Well back in the _old_ days, people with eyes like mine were greatly feared in another land _far_ away; back where I grew up with Gramps of course. We were killed and ended up as just a myth before both me and another appeared; though I was the more dynamic of the two and we had no idea of the other until the fall of the ruling government of the land who was responsible for the genocide."

"You basked yourself in illusions in order to protect yourself?" The man nodded. "Then is what your having Naruto do, do the same thing to his own?"

"Yes, it has begun though," he stated as he looked at his cousin. "He has the _right stuff_ so they will change. Is it harmful? No, it's not harmful at all. Remember this morning when I was talking about the rings on the shakujo?" Both registered ninja's nodded. "It's just like the five rings, but when they fully change, it'll signify him as a master of the style."

"The style isn't harmful to my health," the boy asked. "Just this morning I saw a kitsune after having a dream with it there!"

"Like I said this morning, he won't be bothering and no it's not harmful unless you hate hard work."

"Then can I see you're eyes?"

"No, you'll just have to wait," the man said as he shook his head. "We may be family, but we just met and I might have jump started your training in the style, it doesn't mean that I'm just going to show you everything. Part of the fun is the journey; you don't want to be spoon fed like a baby now, do you?"

Naruto furiously shook his head, "But I don't want them to be hideous!"

"My wife found them beautiful and so did quite a few people. Others, they were scared of the reputation of those who had them. No they weren't terrible; they just feared how powerful they were. It shouldn't matter here though, this is an entirely different land and it's more or less considered a lost art that you shouldn't have any problems…"

"He will," Anko interjected.

"Ah the jinchuuriki thing, but that shouldn't matter at all. Just don't worry about it kid, you'll be just fine." Naruto then nodded after seeing that Karasu was in agreement with Jhadow even though he was surprised at how his cousin knew about _that_.

With narrowed eyes, Anko growled, "And how do you know that?"

"I knew the moment I saw him," the man stated, not fazed at all by the kunoichi. "He isn't the first jinchuuriki that I met, that is reserved for Pimiko-sama." That seemed to placate both ninja in the apartment.

"Now about the number of battles…" Anko's answer was a smirk and a casual glance over at his bookshelf.

"Anyway, Naruto, what is Kakashi-san's plan for the coming week to prepare you and you're team," Karasu asked his youngest grandson. The old monk paled once he looked over the scroll that his grandson handed him. "He gave you this…"

The boy nodded, "Yea, though he wants us to train on our own for the rest of the week before the exams. He gave each of us a set of instructions to work on; even though we won't really improve all that much but its better then nothing. Kakashi-sensei doesn't expect me to master this anytime soon, but felt I should add something to my list."

"The Rasengan looks like a neat trick," Jhadow stated. "Though if I were you Naruto, I wouldn't only practice that. I would make sure that I was fully prepared for the exam."

The boy nodded, "Of course, Kakashi-sensei has both Sakura and Sasuke working on preparing themselves as well. I was just lucky with the only one getting a jutsu." When asked what his teammates were doing, he continued. "Sasuke's forms are full of wholes so Kakashi-sensei wants him working on that and he has Sakura working on his physical fitness."

"Well all should be fine then," Karasu said as he got up. "Well Naruto, it's time to go, you have a long day ahead of yourself tomorrow."

The others soon got up as well. "Yea if you need any help, just stop by," Jhadow stated as he walked to the door.

"Sorry I can't help you kid," Anko said as she ruffled Naruto's hair. "I'm going to be very busy over the next couple of weeks."

As the goodbyes were said and done, both Karasu and Naruto left; the jingle of their shakujo's fading as they left the hallway and entered the stairwell, and even then it was faint. Anko made to leave but stopped when Jhadow asked, "Would you like me to take a look at your seal tonight?"

Shaking her head, she said, "Not tonight." She went out the door and he followed. Opening her own door, she looked over at him leaning against his doorframe. "I may have learned a lot about you over the last few days, but knowing that you've been using illusions for most of your life, it's hard to be trusting."

He gave her a smirk, "You can trust that I will remove that seal for you. I'm just going to need a look at it to finish my hypothesis about it. I can only do so much from the notes." He got up and went to go back inside. "Have a good night Anko-han, I'll see ya later."

"Yea, see ya later," Anko mumbled as she entered her lonely apartment. Though even though she didn't exactly like the man, it will be interesting having him as a neighbor; at least he is at least civil with her in the building. As she removed her clothes and slipped into her pajamas, her mind wandered to the events of the day and what's to come in the coming week.

In the apartment next door, Jhadow decided to leave the dishes for later; he grabbed a can of beer and sat down to read his new book. "Ah, peace and quiet," Jhadow mumbled as he flipped open the book. "Well this job will be interesting, eh Drahdow?"

A growl from his bedroom was his answer.

"I hear you old friend."

* * *

Author's Note: Moving in the Chunin Exams now. Story should move at a faster pace from this point on. Just had to set up a few things for them, especially with Naruto's odd family.


	6. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Dragon Quest, they are the sole property of Kishimoto Masashi and Square-Enix.  
**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

'Today's the day,' Naruto thought as he walked through the streets of Konoha with his hat on his head blocking the bright morning sun from hitting his bright blue eyes. His three-ringed shakujo, ringing with each step he took towards his destination; the famed Chunin Selection Exams being held at the dreaded ninja academy of Konohagakure no Sato. In his other hand, he was holding a balloon, and if one was to look close enough, they would notice the barely contained power within.

He felt great, his training went faster then he thought was with such a jutsu created by the Yondaime Hokage himself! Sure it was pure chakra control and manipulation, something that he was pretty good at, but each step was a bit challenging. He didn't go to Kakashi to ask for help, when he was stuck, he went to Jhadow since he seemed pretty smart, especially with how he did it with only a glance at the scroll! Of course his cousin didn't do much besides point out where he was making mistakes and gave a few subtle pointers as well; but he still had fun hanging out with his seemingly lazy cousin. From what he learned about his cousin, is that he may work for Pervy Monk, he spent quite a bit of time just reading or writing down notes. The boy was no fool though; he knew that the older man was studiously working on a way to help Anko-neechan with her seal. It's just that he would have liked to have hung out with him outside of either the temple or his apartment a bit more. 'Last night was a blast,' the boy thought with a smile as he remembered the contest that both he and his cousin had the previous night. 'I can't believe that Jhadow-niisan almost out eat me in ramen!'

The balloon exploded in his face and he fell backwards from the shock. "Man this is hard," he muttered as he reached into his grey kosode and pulled out a new balloon. He filled it up with air and began the exercise all over again. "Still can't get it right…" The sudden thought not getting it right sobered his mood. Each night, he's been visited by that strange kitsune in his dreams. For some odd reason, but his grandfather and cousin have been having him practice that weird fighting style; he can feel himself becoming stronger or is it more… attuned to something. When ever he took a stance, he felt strong, powerful, and he felt… right. That was the only way to describe the stances. He had a few sparring matches with his cousin; each time he was thoroughly trounced, but he remembers the feeling.

It felt like a piece of him that was missing from his being was slowly being put back in place. If there was one thing for sure, the kitsune has never appeared before him until after his cousin gave him that scroll. 'Or did it,' Naruto pondered as his mind went back to when he was younger and did that first stance. He can't really remember what happened after it, but he knew that the kitsune was here and now and it was dogging him despite what his family told him. 'Of all things to be bothering me, it has to be a kitsune. Why are they so calm when I'm the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Yoko! They should be worried like I am!' The thought was so frustrating that when a hand touched his shoulder, the balloon exploded once again, knocking both him and the person next to him down.

"Damn it Naruto," Sakura muttered as she propped herself up on her arms. "What the hell was that?"

Naruto chuckled a bit before helping his teammate up, "Sorry Sakura, I was lost in thought when you shocked me."

"Okay but what was that?"

"Part of the training required for the jutsu that Kakashi-sensei gave me." A delicate pink brow rose on the kunoichi's face as she stared at the young monk. "So how did you're training go Sakura?"

Glancing down away from the monk, she said, "It was all right, I don't think that I got a lot out of it." Looking back up at him, she continued. "You do a lot of exercises right Naruto?" He nodded with a smile. "How can you do it all?"

He glanced up tilting his head back a bit, and scratched the back of his head. "Well, Gramps is a bit of a taskmaster when it came to chores and turned those into exercises when I was younger. That was after we began more formal training. After a while it began second nature, but it just comes down to disciplining yourself to do it. Anyway, it takes a lot of work and effort to get stronger, but along the way you really don't notice it." Looking back down at Sakura and meeting her green orbs, he continued. "Gramps taught me that physical strength and mental strength aren't what makes someone strong; it's their Will. According to him, all living things have it, it's that Will that allows us to be who we are and be who we want to be. It's the same for everything in the world."

"So if I have a strong Will, I can become stronger," the kunoichi asked, hopeful for it to be true. "Naruto, you may be weird at times... but you are much stronger then me. Maybe not Sasuke-kun, but you are strong.

"You are strong too," Naruto interrupted. "You should believe in yourself a bit more. Remember our last training session together?"

"What are you two doing standing around," a familiar voice said. Looking at the source, both Naruto and Sakura noticed Sasuke as he joined them with his usual air of superiority. "Let's get going or we'll be late." With that said, he walked off into the building along with a few other ninja who were just arriving. Taking that as her cue, Sakura went off to follow Sasuke, though she did give Naruto one last look to urge him to follow. He obliged as he soon joined them.

Taking the lead up the stairs to the second floor, Naruto noticed that a bunch of genin were gathered around a door for the room '201.' Why he had no idea, but he did notice the commotion and saw that a boy wearing a green body suit and a girl with a pink top were both knocked down by two older genin blocking the door. He really had no idea why they were gathered or were blocking, but he felt as if they must have gotten the wrong instructions. 'We're supposed to go to Room 301, not 201,' he thought as he continued to walk past the group; the ringing of his shakujo catching a few eyes that he ignored.

Unfortunately he stopped when he heard Sasuke command, "... you'd better let _me _through and drop the genjutsu that you've created while you're at it. I have business on the third floor."

Turning around, Naruto looked on at the scene with what could be called exaggerated confusion. "Eh…" was all the young monk could properly form at the moment.

'What is the bastard talking about,' Naruto thought to himself as he noticed that Sakura, who was standing next to Sasuke, looked confused at the Uchiha as well.

"Oh, so you figured it out eh," the one bully without a weapon strapped to his back said as he gave the Uchiha a smirk.

Sasuke returned the smirk and gave Sakura a side-long glance. "It was easy right, Sakura? You were probably the first to notice it." His surprising praise deflected some attention off of himself and onto the pink-haired kunoichi. It was subtle, but it was there. "You're the most analytical and the best on our team at understanding genjutsu; much better at it then me or Naruto." As the Uchiha finished, he directed it right at the monk who just gained more attention. "He didn't even notice it."

She blushed at the sudden praised and smiled, "Of course I noticed it. We're obviously still on the second floor."

Inwardly Naruto panicked, 'Oh no you didn't, you bastard.' The Uchiha just painted them as targets. Of course the boy made Naruto seem stupid for not noticing a genjutsu that was in glance; which he didn't, and still understand what it was about, but he did know that Sasuke just gave up an advantage to those in the hallway. If genjutsu won't work, don't bother them with weak ones unless it's really strong. It could be disastrous for them. He was sure that Sakura knew this as well, but with the well played praised from her crush, it allowed her to go along with it as well. Naruto may not be much of a ninja with being a monk as well, but with some _reinforced_ by both Anko and Jhadow, he knew that you should never give away what are you're strengths.

It was painful, but he knew that if you gave away your actions, you're bound to lose. "Naruto, deception is the key to war," Jhadow explained to him the previous evening. "It is a vital key in all the Arts of War. With it, it can give you that one edge you need to survive. If you don't have that edge, you will surely lose your life. I may not know much about this exam you're taking…" The man then grumbled about how it was a sorry excuse for a war. "… but from what I heard, people have lost their lives over a stupid promotion. Be careful and give yourself as many edges as you can to make it through."

Those words touched the boy's heart, so seeing what the Uchiha was doing, angered him. He wanted to walk up to the idiot and smash him into a wall. He was going to make his grandfather proud, and he needed to get through the exams in order to do so.

Naruto was about to stomp up to his teammate when all of a sudden, one of the two bullies charged his teammate who countered with a kick of his own. Then all of a sudden, a green blur sped in between both boys and caught their respective legs. 'He's fast,' the monk thought as his anger slipped away; he knew that if he didn't get worked up, he would have noticed the older boy's movement. 'He's almost as fast as me. He's completely different from before.'

Scowling as he joined his teammates, it deepened as soon as he noticed a familiar face. "Hey," Neji said. "Why are you drawing attention to us when you're the one who suggested it?" As much as Naruto didn't like his best friend's cousin, he felt sympathy for the aloof Hyuuga. He too had a teammate who just had to draw attention and give away an edge.

"But…" the green-clad boy started to say as he glanced towards Sakura. Naruto didn't quite catch what the girl muttered, but he could only guess that this is a regular occurrence. "Um… Hi, my name is Rock Lee. You're Sakura aren't you?" A blond brow rose on Naruto's face, he knew that the boy knew her name; Sasuke gave away who both Naruto and Sakura were.

It then dawned to Naruto, 'Hey, he may have painted us as targets, but he made the two of us more of a target then him! No one knows his name!'

"Would you like to go out with me," Lee asked as he flashed Sakura a sparking smile and a thumbs up. "I'll protect you with me life!"

"No way," she deadpanned. "You're lame." That left Lee feeling a bit down about the rejection. However, even though he was rejected this time, Naruto had a feeling that he won't give up that easily.

"Hey you," Neji called out, getting Sasuke's attention. "What's your name?"

"Its common courtesy to give your own name first," Sasuke coolly smirked at the Hyuuga. The Uchiha then decided to walk away from the gathering, Sakura following right behind him.

Seeing that the show was over, including the genjutsu, the other genin decided to move on. As Naruto was about to join his teammates, he stopped when Neji said, "Naruto." Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed that both Neji and the kunoichi with the pink top right behind him.

"Neji," he returned as he turned to face the older boy.

"What a pleasant teammate that fate gave you," Neji said as he suddenly walked past the monk.

Naruto couldn't stop his brow from twitching in frustration. If there was one thing that he really didn't like about Neji aside from his desire to harm Hinata, it was his belief in Fate.

"Sorry about that," the kunoichi on Neji's team apologized with an embarrassed smile. "He's…"

"Been that way for years," Naruto finished which caught the girl off guard. She seemed a bit surprised at his familiarity with the Hyuuga but waved it off. "He really needs to get over that Fate bullshit. Anyway, I'm Naruto and you?"

"Tenten," she said with a smile. "Pleased to meet you Naruto, now if you don't mind me, I need to go check on my team to make sure that they aren't doing anything stupid!" With that she took her own leave, though she did pause at noticing that Lee was missing.

* * *

A few minutes later, Naruto found his teammates in a lobby with a set of stairs leading up to the third floor. 'Is it me or is this building bigger then what it seems to be from the outside,' he mused as he joined them. "Yo!"

"Naruto where were you," Sakura asked from her spot next to Sasuke by the wall. Sasuke merely grunted at him and gave him a brief glance before returning to his brooding.

"Sorry I was talking to Hinata-chan's cousin," he explained, though Sakura looked confused and Sasuke showed that he wasn't interested. "The Hyuuga that Sasuke was talking to, Neji, is Hinata-chan's cousin."

"Well now that you're here, let's get going," Sasuke said as he pushed himself off of the wall and began to walk toward the stairs.

Team Kakashi stopped when someone from the third floor balcony called down at them, or Sasuke to be more specific, "Hey you with the dark look… Wait up!" Looking up, they noticed that it was Lee.

"What is it?"

"Will you fight me right here?"

"You want to fight me right now," Sasuke asked, though confused, Naruto could tell that this was what he was itching for.

"Yes." The boy then vaulted over the banister and landed in the lobby. "My name is Rock Lee. When you want to learn someone else's name, you introduce yourself first. Am I right Uchiha Sasuke?"

"So you knew who I was all along." Naruto noticed that Sasuke's eyes narrowed onto Lee as he assumed a fighting stance from the Goken style of fighting if the monk had to guess.

"I want to fight you. I want to test my techniques against the offspring of the genius ninja clan, the Uchiha." A faint blush appeared on Lee's face. "Plus…" He focused his attention onto Sakura now and winked. Said kunoichi was freaked out by his eyebrows and made her opinion of him known to everyone. Though negative, Lee took it in stride, "You're an angel!" The green boy then blew a kiss at her, which she dodged.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as he thought of how quick she was to dodge that. It showed that she's not so weak as she believed herself to be.

"You're a fool for challenging me if you already know who I am," Sasuke stated as he took a step towards Lee. "Do you really want to learn what it's like to face an Uchiha?"

"Absolutely," the older boy said with conviction.

Naruto could tell that this was what he wanted, to test himself against his teammate. He also knew that this is what his teammate wanted despite dragging this out. With a quick glance, he quickly sized Lee up, and with a sigh Naruto said, "Sasuke, don't get you're ass handed to you too badly." With that Naruto took a place against the wall. He could feel Sasuke's angry glare and the confused looks that the other two were giving him. Sakura joined his side and kept giving him that same confused look.

"Naruto, I know that you don't like Sasuke much, but why do you doubt that Sasuke-kun," she finally asked as the two genin faced of against each other.

"Because he can really pick them…"

"I'll say this Sasuke-kun," Lee began as he straightened his stance. "I am the strongest fighter among all of Konoha's genin."

"This could be fun," the Uchiha said as he took his own stance. To both Naruto and Sakura, it looked barely better then what it was last week. "I accept your challenge."

"Go Sasuke-kun," Sakura cheered as Sasuke charged Lee.

He stopped when Lee blurred and appeared in the air with a leg poised to strike. "Konoha Senpu," Lee shouted as his leg flew over Sasuke's head. The Uchiha barely ducked under it, only to meet Lee's foot. He tried to block it but it bypassed his defense, and Sasuke was knocked back away from Lee.

Sakura's eyes widened as she watched the exchange and knew what just happened. "He's like me," Naruto stated as he watched the fight. "It's just as if he was fighting me, though I don't think Sasuke believes it... looks like he just activated his doujutsu." The tone of finality that Naruto spoke with drove the nail in the coffin for Sakura. She knew now that Sasuke had no hope of defeating Lee unless he used his ninjutsu, but to use it inside the building would prove disastrous; burning the building down before the exams began would be bad.

The next thing that both teammates noticed was that Lee appeared below Sasuke and drove a kick under his chin, sending the Uchiha flying into the air. "My moves are neither genjutsu nor ninjutsu," Lee stated before he appeared beneath the soaring boy. "They are taijutsu. Hard as you may find to accept, but if your Sharingan can see yet you cannot keep up, you cannot win." The bandages around Lee's hands began to come undone. "You're strength comes from your lineage, while mine comes from blood, sweat, and tears! Right from the start, we've been mismatched. This next move completely exceeds you're genius completely!"

From the ground, Naruto's eyes widened as he watched the bandages about to wrap around Sasuke and knew exactly what move Lee was about to perform. Though his thought process went a different way, 'How the hell can he maintain that monologue up there and Sasuke not do anything? Oh wait, he was stunned, but still, some hang time there.'

"Halt," a voice shouted as a pinwheel embedded a bandage to the wall, and ending Lee's technique. From the sudden tug, Lee was pulled away from Sasuke's shadow and landed in a crouch. Sasuke however was left on a crashing towards the floor, but luckily for him, Sakura rush out to catch him. As she was looking over Sasuke, Naruto looked at the source of the shout and saw a large turtle with a hitae-ate hanging from its neck. "You know the rules Lee, that move is strictly forbidden!"

"Forgive me, I was only," Lee tried to mumble out of fear. Naruto could see him shaking in fear of the turtle. Could it be his jonin-sensei? "I wasn't planning on finishing it!"

"You fool," the turtle shouted. "Do you think I care about your feeble excuses; you already know what happens to a ninja when they explain their secrets! I hope that you are properly prepared. Well then, he's all yours Gai-san!"

Smoke exploded on top of the turtle and a man in a similar green bodysuit to Lee, appearing striking a pose, "Ah the flames of youth. All of you are full of it!" His sudden appearance, demeanor, and looks freaked out Naruto and his teammates. "Lee, come here." Gai jumped off of the turtles shell and beckoned Lee. Once the boy joined him, he punched him. "You idiot!" Seeing that Lee was flat on the ground, Gai crouched down next to him. "Lee you…"

"Gai-sensei," Lee said as tears began to pour down both his eyes and Gai's. "Gai-sensei, I… I…"

"That's enough Lee," Gai exclaimed as he embraced his student who returned it. This just served to freak out Team Kakashi even more as a cliff appeared behind the two and a sunset appeared as well with crashing waves. The genjutsu was so powerful that even Naruto noticed it. "I understand that it's because you're young. It's all right Lee, making mistakes is apart of youth."

"You're too kind Gai-sensei," Lee said as both he and Gai stood.

"But I can't let you go unpunished for attempting to break the rule. You're penalty will have to wait until the Exams are over."

"Yes Sir." Lee exclaimed as he saluted Gai.

After the shock passed, Naruto noticed that Gai was looking at him and his teammates. "By the way, how is Kakashi-sensei," Gai asked as he finally acknowledged Naruto and his team.

"You know Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke asked, slowly composing his aloofness once more after the shock finally passed.

"Do I know him?" In the blink of an eye, the man was gone before Naruto's eyes. "I should say so. We are eternal rivals after all." Without any of them noticing, Gai was behind them.

'He's almost as fast as Gramps and Oneechan,' Naruto thought as he turned around with wide eyes.

"The score stands at fifty to forty-nine," Gai explained. "I'm stronger then he is. Anyway, tell him that I say hi when you see him. Good luck to all of you and may your flames of youth guide you!" With that smoke exploded around both him and the turtle. Once the smoke cleared, both him and the turtle were gone.

"Amazing," Lee shouted as he began to re-wrap the bandages around his hands. Naruto noticed how beat up the older boy's hands were, and nodded to himself, seeing that he was right about him from the start. "By the way Sasuke-kun, I was lying before; I'm really here to test my abilities and to see how they stand against others. The strongest Konoha genin is on my team and I intend to take him down. Just so you know, you're also on my list now." With sudden movement, Lee leapt up to the balcony and disappeared. "Well be prepared Sasuke-kun."

Once Lee was gone, Naruto looked at Sasuke and noticed his fist was clenched and the angry expression on his face. "So it looks like I was right," the monk stated as he began to walk towards the stairs. "Lee was right, you were both mismatched. I would have been a better match for him. Maybe this will serve as a reminder for you to keep that ego of yours in check." Glancing over his shoulder, he could feel the anger and frustration coming off of his teammate. "Come on, it's almost time."

As Naruto began to ascend the steps, he heard Sasuke say, "Next time he's dead."

"You'll need to put more effort in you're training then he does."

"Heh, things are starting to get interesting." Naruto didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that both his teammates finally began to ascend the steps behind him.

* * *

It didn't take long for the three genin of Team Kakashi to reach Room 301. "Yo, glad that you all made it," Kakashi said as he stood in front of the door. "This way, you're all allowed to take the exam.

"What do you mean," Sakura asked, confused about why they all needed to be there.

"The way that the test is set up," the jonin began to explain as he stood joined his students. "That it can only be taken by three man teams of genin."

"But you said that it was up to us if we wanted to take it or not," Naruto said, confused as well."

"Yes well I didn't want any of you pressuring any of the other into taking it." The man scratched the back of his head with a smile evident under his mask. "This just shows that you're all willing to take it and that you weren't pressured; if you heart wasn't in it, you wouldn't be at you peak performance. If only one of you were missing, I wouldn't have let any of you through. I'm very proud of you all." He then crouched down and held his hand next to his face, to keep onlookers from seeing what he's saying; though there were none in the hallway. "So how did your training go?"

"I did all right," Sakura stated, embarrassed about her own progress with it, though Kakashi was happy nonetheless.

Sasuke grunted, while Naruto proudly said, "I'm on the third part of training now Kakashi-sensei!"

That surprised the jonin if his single eye widening was anything to judge by. "Guess I shouldn't be that surprised," he said with a chuckle. "Way to go, all of you are coming along just nicely." He then put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and ruffled Sakura's hair, much to the chagrin of the kunoichi who liked to keep her hair nice. "Now get in there and show what Team Kakashi is made of!"

That said, Kakashi stepped to the side and allowed the genin to step through the double doors. On the other side of the threshold, each member of Team Kakashi stood before hundreds of genin from around the world. It was unsettling to have all those eyes on them just as the doors closed behind them. "So many people," Naruto muttered as he scanned the large room, no longer believing that the school is what it appears to be from the outside. As he and his teammates moved further into the room, his eyes picked up both Neji and Sabaku no Gaara. If there was one person he was now wary of in the room, it would be him; his grandfather told him a little bit of what the jinchuuriki's entailed. It wasn't much and mostly from the few observations that he's made of both him and the previous jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku.

All of a sudden, Naruto heard a flurry of movement and Sasuke grunting, "Sasuke, where've you been honey?" Looking back at the Uchiha, he noticed Ino, a girl from his class latched onto Sasuke from behind. "I could hardly wait seeing you again after all this time.

"Ino-pig, get your claws off of Sasuke-kun," Sakura shouted at seeing her rival all over Sasuke.

The young monk sighed, this was to be expected, so he decided to ignore the commotion and move to the side. If Ino was there, then both Shikamaru and Chouji were there as well. They may have been in the same class, but he never really cared for any of them, well maybe Shikamaru and Chouji more so then Ino, but he was never really close to any of them. Naruto suddenly froze when a very familiar called out to the group.

"Hey there you are," a feral looking boy with a dog on his head shouted. Looking over at the source, Naruto noted that it was Kiba. As much as it displeased him to see the Inuzuka, he was happy to finally see his best friend after all this time.

He waved at Hinata who quietly excused herself from the group and made her way over to Naruto. He smiled; it's been too long since they actually had the chance to hang out for a bit. Each time that they've seen each other was only in passing since the graduated. "Hello Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted timidly with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Hey Hinata-chan, how have you been?" As soon as he opened his mouth, he noticed the scowl that Kiba sent his way; it confused him as to why the boy would do so.

"I've been good." She pushed her two index fingers together. "How about you?"

"Great, I finally got to meet my cousin." He then went into telling her about how awesome yet weird his cousin was. "He even helped me prepare for these exams! I just know that we're going to kick so much ass Hinata-chan!" So caught up in his declaration that he almost didn't notice that the rest of the rookie genin gathered around an older silver haired genin. "What's going on?"

"Do you have information on Rock Lee of Konoha and Sabaku no Gaara of Suna," he heard Sasuke ask the strange genin. Seeing that his attention was elsewhere, Hinata followed his gaze.

"Hmm… let's see here," the genin said as he shuffled a deck of cards. "First up, Rock Lee, he's from last year's batch of genin. He's completed twenty D-Ranked, and eleven C-Ranked missions to date. It also says that he's a student of Maito Gai, where his own taijutsu flourished. He's a first timer at the exams along with his teammates, Hyuuga Neji and Kuno Tenten." The genin then drew another card. "Next is Gaara, nothing much about him aside from his mission performance and age; which is the same as you guys. He's completed eight C-Ranked, and one B-Rank… wow to be a genin and given a B-rank mission! Sorry about the lack of information, but it's because he's from another village, but it does say that he's returned from every mission without a scratch."

That set of information really caught Naruto's attention, the information on Gaara didn't really surprise him, but it was the lack-of information that was given. The silver-haired Konoha genin had more information on a comrade then a rival ninja. It was weird when he would assume that if the guy was to have information, he would focus more on foreign ninja instead of domestic.

"Now how about Uzumaki Naruto," Kiba asked this time, as he sent the monk a glance.

Naruto frowned and thought, 'What is this about?'

"Yeah sure," the genin said with a nod. "Let's see here, got it. Hmm… interesting, monk in training who is also a ninja; his sensei is Hatake Kakashi, a student of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage." The collected genin gasped in shock, non more so then either Sakura and Sasuke. "Also says that he's completed about sixteen D-Ranked and one C-Ranked mission with his teammates, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke… Hey isn't that you two? Are you an idiot for asking for information on your friends who are standing next to you?"

"Naruto isn't a friend," Kiba stated with a scowl as he glanced over at Naruto.

"Well then, his taijutsu is very high," the genin continued. "Along with his chakra control, though his ninjutsu is very weak. He shows some aptitude in genjutsu's where he just shrugs them off without notice. It also says that his grandfather, Karasu no Kami, is a _very_ high ranking member of the Order."

Before Naruto was surprised by the information the genin had, but more so now with what he has. "How the hell does he know that," he quietly asked himself. "He doesn't talk about Order stuff at all unless it's in private between me and him along with Pervy Monk and they both know when someone is listening in when they do talk."

"I don't know Naruto-kun," Hinata quietly replied, glancing at the monk. "That is some very private information. He shouldn't have been able to get that."

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled as he noticed some surprised looks sent his way from his ex-classmates. "I should ask him where he got that because that last bit not even Hokage-jiji knows."

"Naruto-kun, don't," Hinata stammered out as she caught his arm. "If you do you might get in trouble."

Turning around, to face her, he lifted up his hat, giving her a good look at his eyes. "I'll be fine Hinata-chan" he said, trying to placate his best friend, who began to look like a fish as she looked at him. "Is something wrong Hinata-chan?"

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she asked, "Um… you're eyes look different Naruto-kun."

'My eyes,' he thought to himself before remembering. "How do they look different?"

"Um… it looks like they are turning purple around the edge of your irises." Naruto sighed, he liked how his eyes looked and now they are changing. He wondered about how his cousin handled the changes for having the _right stuff_. "They look really nice Naruto-kun." Now Naruto raised a blonde brow at that statement, and his best friend began to stammer out apologies.

"Geez Hinata-chan, no need to apologize. I'm going through some new training that my cousin introduced me to, so this was bound to happen. Though I would like to know how my eyes will look in the end." The Hyuuga heiress then asked if it was like her doujutsu. "From what Jhadow-niisan said, it's more of a mark of mastery then a doujutsu."

The two of them were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't notice anything going on until they heard Sakura gasp. Looking in the direction of their classmates, they caught the tail end of an attack that the older genin swiftly dodged. Even though he dodged the attack from the bandaged-wrapped genin with the strange gaunlet, his glasses broke and he fell down to his knees retching.

'He dodged it,' Naruto thought, trying to think of how the older genin was harmed by the attack. Going over what happened, he remembered that the attacker attacked with his gauntlet covered arm. 'Must be some trick using that gauntlet.'

"Better add this to your cards," the spiky haired boy said standing next to the bandage face. "The three Oto-nins will definitely become chunin's during this exam!"

Before anything else could be said, smoke exploded in the front of the room. "Will you all just shut up," a large man with a black trench coat said as the smoke dispersed from sight. Surrounding him were many other Konoha ninjas. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. My name is Morino Ibiki, and I am the examiner for the first part of the exam. You kids from Otogakure, you can't do what you want when the exam is about to start or do you want to be thrown out of here?"

"Sorry sir," the bandage faced ninja said. "It's our first exam and we got a little carried away."

"Is that so? Then it's time for me to lay down the ground rules. From this point on, there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the lead examiner and even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is forbidden. Any of you little brats who break that rule are out. No second chances. Got that?" Everyone in the room understood, but a few scoffed at Ibiki's words, especially the Oto-nins. "The first part of the exam is about to begin. Turn in your applications and take a number for the seat that you will be assigned. You are to report directly to the seat given to you. When everyone's seated, we'll pass out the written part of the test."

"What the hell," Naruto shouted in disbelief. 'No way in hell did I actually study for this,' he thought as both he and Hinata walked up and handed in there applications and given their seating numbers. 'Why must it be a paper test, why oh why? Do the Lords hate me so?'

"Let's do our best Naruto-kun," Hinata said as she sat down next to him, much to his surprise.

He offered her a weak smile in response, "Yea, let's do this!" The boy then leaned his shakujo against the desk and let his hat hang off the back of his neck.

"Kid," Ibiki said, catching Naruto's attention along with the rest of the room. The noticed that the older man was pointing at him. "What the hell is that on your head?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Ew what the hell is that Naruto," Sakura cried out as she too noticed what was on Naruto's head.

"What the hell are you guys talking about," the monk kept on asking as he looked around the room and seeing the combination of both confused and disgusted looks sent his way.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata quietly said. "You have Slime-kun on your head."

Finally registering what was going on, he reached up and grabbed Slime from the top of his head. "So that's where you've been Slime. I was wondering where you've been." The blue creature just smiled at him. "It's just Slime; he's a friend of mine."

"Does this have anything to do with Karasu-sama," Ibiki asked as he didn't quite trust the little creature. It is understandable of course; he has never seen or heard of such a creature before, so Naruto can understand his feelings along with everyone else are in the room.

"Eh… yeah, sorry about that, when he's on me, I don't notice him at all. It's like he isn't there. If I knew he was here, I would have left him home."

"Regardless, he's with you now for the duration of the Chunin Selection Exam." Turning his attention back to the rest of the room, Ibiki began to explain the test. "There are few big rules that pertain to this first test. I'll write them down on the board here and explain them as I go. Though I will only say them once." The man picked up a piece of chalk and began to write on the board. "The first rule is that each of you starts out with ten points and each of the ten questions on the test is worth one point. For each question you get wrong we subtract a point from you. Get all ten right and you keep your points. Now for the second rule, this test is a test taken as a team, passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three members of each team. The object is for each to have as few deductions as possible from it's joint thirty point total."

As Naruto was listening, he placed Slime back on the top of his head, and the little guy was just shifting around looking around the room. Though through the explanation of the rules, Naruto began to feel the angry glares that both Sakura and Sasuke were giving him. 'Oh man, I am so screwed,' he thought as panic began to start up again.

"The third rule is if during the course of the exam, a candidate who does anything out of the ordinary, in other words anything that will lead us examiners to believe that you are cheating. We will subtract two points from each member of the cheaters team. In all probability, some of you will run out of your allowance of points during the test. If so you have failed and will be _asked_ to leave," Ibiki continued his explanation as his assistants handed out the tests and pencils. "If you let us catch you cheating, you'll be cheating yourself and letting your friends down. If you aspire to become chunin, if you want to be the best ninja you can be, then you'd better start acting like one. Also, if one person loses all ten points, they have failed along with their team."

'Now this really sucks,' the monk thought as he stiffened. He was never one for being intimated by either Sakura or Sasuke, but at this moment, he can feel it; especially with him, for once, being the weakest link on the team.

"You will have one hour to take the test. Just so you know, the tenth question will be given out once forty-five minutes have past. You're first test in the Chunin Selection Exams start now!" With that said, everyone in the room began to furiously take the test.

As Naruto looked over the test, he couldn't help but become more nervous then he was before. 'Decode the cipher and summarize its meaning,' he thought as he looked over the first question. 'What the hell, we've never covered that! Um… what the hell, most of these questions are too hard. I'm pretty sure that we never covered most of this stuff, especially the one about deducing the shuriken flying into a moving enemy. Show your work for that one? Maybe Sakura can get it, but I can't!'

"The message is, 'Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness,'" A voice whispered into his ear. It sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. Trying to find the source, he looked up to see Slime smiling down at him. "It means you can direct your opponent's fate." Naruto wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure that Slime's lips didn't move but he wasn't going to question his blessings at this moment. "They want you to cheat and we shall help you Naruto-chan!"

"Thank you Slime," Naruto whispered as he obtained more and more answers. He finished with plenty of time left, so he turned his test over and pulled out a new balloon. Filling it up, he began the exercise for the final step of the jutsu. The room was pretty quiet if one ignored the scribbling and the few out bursts from failed genin. Naruto was quite happy now, he finished his test, was sure to make his family proud of him and was back at work on working on the jutsu that his sensei entrusted him with. The thought of anyone managing to copy it didn't cross his mind at all since it said in the instructions that this step could be done while walking.

As one of the first done, he had a few genin and examiners looking at him, more so the examiners as he was holding a balloon in his hand and waiting for him to cheat somehow with it. Naruto never noticed the small smile sent his way from Hinata or the relieved expressions from his teammates. Other genin viewed him as a prime target but with his paper turned over and him not paying any more attention to the actions of others, it was hard to take any of his answers unless they happened to have some kind of doujutsu that would allow them to see through the test…

"All right, time for the tenth question," Ibiki exclaimed, catching everyones attention. "Before I give it out, there is one more rule you must know. This rule is absolute." That really caught Naruto's attention and his concentration began to waver as his nervousness begins to return. "If you decide to take it, and you fail to answer it correctly, you will lose all of your points and lose any chance at participating in any future Chunin Selection Exams. If you refuse to take it, you can pack up now and try again in six months…"

"What the hell," Kiba shouted from his spot in the room. "There are ninja here who've taken the exams more then once!"

Ibiki chuckled, "It's just your rotten luck kid. I wasn't making the rules in the past; I am now. You can walk out now and be fine, or take it and risk your future."

Naruto's balloon then exploded, blasting him backwards, hitting his head against the desk behind him. The tests of those near him blew away, but the examiners quickly snatched them and returned them to place before anyone could make a move. "Naruto-kun," Hinata cried out as she turned to look over the monk.

"I'm okay," the boy, though touched, waved her concern off as he got back up in his seat.

Ibiki gave him a dry look, "Now that is over with, who wishes to leave now?" A few hands shot up, and Naruto was thinking of quitting too.

If he failed the question, it would surely disappoint his grandfather. That was the last thing that he ever wanted to do. He loves his grandfather so much that the thought of failing him hurt. "Wouldn't he be more upset with you if you give up without trying," Slime whispered into his ear once again.

Naruto froze as his hand rose, stopping it before it was fully raised. "Never underestimate me! I won't run away from this question, I will be a person that my grandfather will be proud of!" He then slammed his hand down onto the desk. "I'll accept the stupid question even if I risk my chances at a promotion. I'll still be able to hold my head up as I stand by him! I'm not afraid of you so bring it on!" He then glared at Ibiki with Slime on his head once again.

"Are you sure that you want to take it," Ibiki asked as he stared at Naruto who nodded in return. The man looked over the room, as if counting who else was left in the room before nodding to an assistant examiner. "How unfortunate for you, you've all just passed the first test!"

Many of the genin in the room shocked, especially Naruto. "What do you mean that we 'passed,'" Sakura asked and from what Naruto could tell, was stumped. "When did that happen? What about the tenth question?"

A smile formed on the older mans scarred face, which seemed a bit out of place on him. "That was the tenth question."

"Then why did you have us answer all of the other questions then," another genin, a blonde girl from Suna from what Naruto could tell as he looked back at her. "Was that just a total waste of our time?"

"They served their purpose in testing your abilities in gathering information," the man explained, completely different from before. Now he seemed much mellower to Naruto. "The rules were designed to induce fear into each and every one of you. The questions given were meant to be ways above you're given abilities to answer as well. So each of you had to come to the conclusion that you had to cheat in order to stay _alive_ in the scenario given. Of course anyone who cheated in clumsy or obvious ways failed." Ibiki then began to undo his bandanna and become solemn which affected the entire room. Once the bandanna was removed, he showed everyone the horrible scars covering his head. "There will be circumstances where you being caught may cost you more then you're life. The information you obtain can't be trusted if you can't keep yourself concealed from the enemy." His bandanna went back to covering his head. "Know this well, there will be times when information will matter more then you're life, because it can affect the fate of entire countries."

"Okay but what about the tenth question," Sakura asked, wanting to know the reason behind that one.

"Well, it's pretty simple when you think about it. You're given the choice where the chances of you dying are very high. Do you take it or pass it over to someone else so that they can attempt at it. The answer is no, because in the face of adversity, you must maintain a strong Will to see you through despite the gamble that you're taking. Those who don't take risks aren't worth becoming chunin at all. I wish you all good luck on the next test…"

A dark object crashed through a window in the room before two kunai shot out of it and embedded into the ceiling revealing someone who Naruto was very familiar with. He smiled as soon as he saw her. "Now is not the time for celebrating. I am the head examiner for the second test, Mitarashi Anko," Anko declared as the sign behind her said the same thing. "Time's a wasting people, let's go!" She was so ready to go, that as soon as she saw the number of genin left, she frowned, but was pleased that Naruto was still in. "Ibiki, you passed twenty-six teams. Did you go easy on them?"

"Nope, this year has some interesting people."

"Yeah right," She declared, but Naruto could tell that she was pleased at his progress by how she glanced over him. It made him proud to know that he pleased her. "Well I'll just have to cut that number down by half then aren't I?" However, he began to sweat as soon as he noticed that dark expression crossing Anko's face. "I'll explain the details to the next test once we reach the area where we'll be taking it."

'Oh hell,' Naruto thought as he stiffened. He knew that expression, and it wasn't one he liked to see. He got up from his seat as Anko strode past him and gave him a brief glance, telling him to follow. Placing his hat back on top of his head and grabbing his shakujo, he shadowed her with Hinata at his side. The other genin in the room followed their lead out of the building.

Outside and into the sunlight, he spotted another familiar face who was smiling at him. 'Nii-san,' the boy thought as pride welled up inside him. Naruto was about to walk up to his cousin but stopped once Anko approached him and began holding a private conversation, where she touched the right side of her neck. "All right you brats, you better keep up or you'll regret it," the jonin declared once every genin that passed the first test was outside in the yard and her private conversation ended. "Let's go!" With that said, the group began the long trek to the next test.

"This is going to be awesome," Naruto muttered with barely restrained excitement. "I'm going to show them just how awesome I am!"

"Hey Naruto," Sakura said, interrupting the boy in his excitement briefly. "Do you know them? The examiner gave you a few looks while that man just seemed to look at only you."

The monk nodded excitedly as he kept his eye on both Anko and Jhadow who went back to having a private conversation. "Yeah, I've know Anko-oneechan for years, and Jhadow-niisan is my cousin."

Eyeing the duo at the head of the pack, Sakura asked, "So you're cousin is an assistant examiner?"

Naruto shook his head, "I don't know, it's likely but I doubt it. He's probably just tagging along with Anko-oneechan to see how the exams are." It was likely, but Naruto knew that there was more to it then that and it is a very private matter for Anko.

"He seems nice Naruto-kun," Hinata quietly said as she looked at her best friend with the same faint blush on her cheeks.

"Yeah he's pretty cool, but weird."

"So Naruto, what were you doing during the test," Sakura decided to ask another question.

"Just practicing the jutsu that Kakashi-sensei gave me." That caught all of the rookie's attention, especially Sasuke's. When they asked what it was, he refused to tell them. He wanted to tell Hinata, but with so many people present, they might use the knowledge of the jutsu against him somehow. He'll just tell her later once they got the chance to be alone from everyone; especially both Kiba and Sasuke.

The conversations soon turned off into what the groups have been up too after they became fully fledged genin of Konohagakure and some of there adventures. It was during these conversations that Kiba kept scowling at him whenever he moved closer to Hinata; Naruto had no idea why the Inuzuka was acting that way, but he had to just place it as the boy's general dislike of Naruto. After a while, the scenery began to become familiar to the monk as the trees began to become larger, older looking.

* * *

"Welcome to Training Ground Forty-Four," Anko shouted over the gathering as she stood before a fenced in forest. "Otherwise known as The Forest of Death, this place will be the field where you will take the second test." Naruto saw the older kunoichi smirking at the group of genin, and he couldn't help but smirk as well. He could see his home a bit of the way off to one side and saw his grandfather standing there silently watching them. He waved at Karasu who returned it as well; he knew that his grandfather warned him about pride, but he couldn't help but feel it swell even further then before. He was there, being tested, and his family was there watching him.

"This place looks pretty creepy," he heard Sakura mutter. Turning towards his teammate, he placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. She looked at him and he directed his attention to the temple off in the distance. The action seemed to relieve her a bit, at knowing that he knew the area a bit.

"What's so special about this stupid forest," Kiba asked. "Trying to scare us with that load of crap; we're not kids, we're ninja Lady!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"You're pretty cocky aren't you kid," Anko said with a smile that put both Naruto and his cousin on edge. It was such a disarming smile that not one of the genin present noticed anything happen until she was gone from sight. "You're kind are always the ones that are the first to go." She appeared behind him with her arms over him and licking the blood spilling from a cut on his face. "Spilling all that red blood that I love…"

It was pretty quick, but a Kusa kunoichi appeared behind her holding a kunai in her long tongue. The action itself had Anko drawing a kunai and about to stab the poor genin; however this genin didn't flinch. "You're kunai," she said, offering it to the jonin. "I believe that you dropped it." It was dropped, it was thrown and it was the one that made the cut on Kiba's quivering face.

"Why thank you," the jonin said as she eyed the genin behind her before taking the kunai back. "Just so you know, don't sneak up behind me radiating blood lust unless you want to die."

The Kusa kunoichi turned around and walked back to her team. "Sorry, I'll try to keep it down, but the sight of blood gets me crazy and I couldn't help it when I lost a strand of my hair just now."

"Well sorry about that," Anko cheekily said.

'Geez, that was intense,' Naruto thought, he was used to Anko's antics, and so was his cousin, but seeing her ready to spring into action like that unnerved him a bit. As silly and fun as Anko is, he sometimes forgets that she is a fully trained jonin of Konoha. 'What's up with that kunoichi's tongue; it's so freaking long!'

"Well this should be a fun test with all these blood-thirsty ones here," Anko said as she pulled out a pack of paper from her coat. "Now before we start, there's something that I have to hand out. These are consent forms that everyone has to sign."

"Why," a Konoha-nin asked from the back.

"Well there will be a few deaths in this test," she kept that smile up and Jhadow frowned. Clearly not liking the prospect that Naruto could potentially die just for a chance at being promoted; Naruto knew that his cousin made his opinion of the exams quite clear since he began his personal training for it. "And I don't want to be held responsible for you're deaths and have people coming after me wanting to avenge you and then have others wanting to avenge them. As nice and bloody as they will be, it'll be tedious having to clean up every time." Most of the genin present felt a shiver run down their spines.

"Don't forget those pesky lawsuits," Jhadow added, which earned him an annoyed look sent his way from Anko. "Hey, I'm just saying that they can be really annoying. Those lawyers can be just as, if not more bloodthirsty then ninjas."

"True but let's get back to me explaining," the jonin then handed the papers to Jhadow. "Do you mind handing these out? Thanks. Before you sign, let me explain the test before you submit your forms at the booth behind me along with your teammates. To keep this simple, this test is the ultimate survival test; but with a twist of capture the flag added into it. In the massive area of this forest, you will be fighting each other over the possession of these two scrolls, the Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth." She held out both scrolls that were labeled as such. There are twenty-six teams here, so half of you will have the Scroll of Heaven while the other half gets the Scroll of Earth. You need to have a complete set in order to enter the tower at the center of the forest.

A few of the genin present gasped once they realized the meaning behind what she said earlier to Ibiki. "Now once you enter the forest, there is no turning back; you will be there for a total of five days. Don't worry too much surviving in there… okay you should when it is filled with cute nasty creatures that may or may not want to have you for a snack; though with enemies all around you, they may not be your main concern." She paused for a moment to take in the looks of the genin around her; most were nervous or indifferent, though Naruto was completely at ease with being here. It's his backyard, so he knows how to handle himself in there. "Now lets talk about what will fail you in the exam. First if you fail to reach the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Second, if any team lose a teammate or they die, you fail. Also, under no circumstances are you allowed to leave the forest before the time is up. So you're locked in there until I let you out. One more thing, you are not to look inside the scrolls at all. As chunin, you will be asked to carry sensitive information and will be trusted by you're superiors to handle them. So consider this as a test run for when you're promoted." She then tucked both scrolls away into her pockets. "Now then, we'll be giving you one random scroll per team, so get those signed now so we can get underway!" She began to walk towards the booth with Jhadow at her side. "Oh one more thing, stay alive if you want to see you're homes again."

After the explanations were given, the genin broke up into moved to different sections of the area where they would be with their own teams. "Their pretty smart with keeping us in the dark," Sasuke quietly said as he eyed the booth that now had a cloth blocking the examiners from view.

"Yeah, everyone is an enemy," Naruto said as he nodded in agreement. As proud of himself as he was feeling, the consent form in his hand felt like a heavy weight. His life was bound to that small piece of paper. Never before had he felt such anxiousness before…

Wait, yes he did, it was back when he laid his life on the line when during that unforgettable mission to Wave Country. He's faced spirits and demons before, and he is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, he can do this. His family believes in him, so he can do it. So without any hesitation, he signed the waver. After his lead, both of his teammates signed as well. Once their forms were signed, they walked up to the booth and exchanged the wavers for a Scroll of Heaven.

Once all of the teams had a scroll, they began to follow an examiner, both Anko and Jhadow stayed behind. As Naruto walked away, he looked back at the duo and saw the proud looks that they were giving him. He smiled and waved back at them before joining his team. As Team Kakashi was guided to their starting gate, they ended up passing by the temple where Naruto lives. His grandfather gave him a nod which he returned with another smile. He would not fail this test; he will pass it with flying colors because it would mean that he will see his grandfather again. "Hey Naruto, is that you're grandfather," Sakura asked as she noticed the old monk and the simple yet beautiful temple. The nod he gave her was the only answer she got.

It didn't take much longer to reach their gate where they ended up waiting a while longer before the examiner who was keeping tabs on his watch turned around and unlocked the gate. "Okay guys, good luck," he said as he opened the gate for them. As soon as each of the genin crossed over the threshold, the examiner closed the gate and locked it once more.

* * *

"Is it still hurting," Jhadow asked as he sat next to Anko on top of the booth back at the starting point. They were both eating lunch while waiting for something to happen during the test. Well Anko was, he was just there as a tag along.

She nodded as she made to touch her seal. She knew that he saw her touch there quite a few times today and. For the first time all week, she decided to finally let him take a look at her seal because it began to ache and she didn't like what it might mean. She allowed him a thorough look at it as he poured over the notes in his apartment; as he did this, he let her read one of his own books. The kunoichi chose the book that he just bought a few days prior to this visit.

The man found nothing remotely wrong, but he had a few theories, none of which he shared because he felt that she shouldn't worry about what them. After this though, he decided to follow her for the day, which she didn't agree to at first, but she relented once he made it known that since this was happening for the first time, it would be best if he was nearby on hand. Anko had to admit though; the man was helpful when she asked him to help out with a few things like her entrance at the end of the first test and handing out the wavers as well.

"Well we should probably head to the tower," Anko said as she flicked one last skewer with her wrist. Glancing over at her target, Jhadow could see that she made the symbol that all Konoha ninjas wear on the tree. "The good ones should be done in less than a day…" An examiner suddenly appeared before the two of them. This man gave a brief questioning glance at Jhadow before turning his attention back to Anko. "What is it?"

"Anko-sama, there is trouble," the man anxiously stated, Mozuku if memory served her right. "Three dead bodies have been found by the Stone Buddha's. There is also something very weird about them; please come see for yourself!"

She shared brief look with Jhadow who nodded. They both leapt off the booth and followed the examiner back to where the bodies were found.

When they made it to the scene, a spiky haired examiner, Kotetsu if she remembered his name correctly, stated, "Judging from their belongings, papers, and identifications, they appear to be ninja from Kusagakure no Sato that were taking part of the exams."

Anko stood over one of the bodies, it looked familiar to her. "Hey Anko-han, isn't this the girl who you almost gutted," Jhadow asked as he crouched down next to the body. How he could tell it was the kunoichi, she had no idea, the face of the girl were gone along with her teammates. "Very interesting…" As she looked down at the body, she couldn't help but feel dread, she knew what did this to their faces and knew just who killed them as well.

Turning towards the three examiners, Anko ordered, "You three, report to Hokage-sama immediately and ask for two squads of ANBU to be deployed in the forest. I'm going in after the imposter right away." After giving the orders, she immediately leapt away into action. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You know who did this," Jhadow stated as he joined her side as they were dashing towards the forest. "If I was to guess, I'd have to say that it was the bastard who gave you that seal." She flinched but he wasn't looking at her. "His presence might explain why it's acting up and meeting him might give me insight into the seal."

"Are you crazy," she shouted as they finally reached the fence. Both jumped over it easily; their coats fluttering behind them in the air as they continued their dash into the forest.

"I should be asking you the same Anko-han," he said finally looking at her with such a serious expression on his face that she almost stumbled. In all the time that she got to know him, she had never seen him look so serious, but it must be because of the nature of the situation. "Going in to take him on when your seal is acting up. It's most likely a liability if you were to face off against him. Don't worry about me though, I can handle myself just fine, this is far from the first fight I've fought."

"Same for me," she countered with a smirk that he shared with her. After that, both of them continued to dash and leap through the forest, on the hunt for their target.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he moved through the forest with his teammates; it has only been a few moments from when they were ambushed by a few Ame-nin who tried to capitalize on him splitting away from the team. Two of them tried to remove him while the other one tried to secure a spot with both Sasuke and Sakura. Fortunately for them, Sasuke immediately discovered the ploy and drove the ninja off. With Naruto however, he was literally caught with his pants down; it was embarrassing for the monk, 'Maybe I should talk to both Gramps and Nii-san about changing up my style. I can't let that happen again.' The monk may have defeated both ninjas and pilfered their Scroll of Heaven, but that moment humbled him.

He was upset about the password that Sasuke decided for the group, it was long and confusing. Sure he remembered mantras and prayers, but those were different, they weren't poems!

"Naruto, give me the scroll," Sasuke demanded as he stopped with his hand out towards the monk. Confused, Naruto did as he was asked, figuring that he might as well since it would make more sense to split up the scrolls. It wasn't like he told his teammates that he had a spare; deception is crucial and if you can fool your allies, you can fool your enemies. "Good, now let's…"

Sasuke didn't get the chance to finish before a huge gust of wind blew and blasted both him and Sakura away. Naruto was caught in it as well, but he was blown off like his teammates, he just fell down face first. Looking around trying to figure out what happened and to spot his teammates, he spotted the kunoichi that Anko almost killed off in the distance before she disappeared. As soon as she did, he took up a fighting stance and held his shakujo at the ready. Eyes darting around at the trees and foliage, he almost missed the massive shadow that suddenly covered him. Looking up, he saw the biggest snake that he had ever seen before; it was as big as the Hokage Tower! "Ah shit," he cried as he dodged the snakes lunge; it crashed into the ground.

"You don't belong in this forest," the boy shouted as the snake tried to grab him by its tail. It failed and made another lunge, getting the same results as before. Once more it lunged, only for the monk to leap high into the air and spin forward while slamming his shakujo into the head of the massive snake. "Be gone foul creature!" The rings of his staff rung out clear and true as the snake crashed into the forest floor. Naruto landed on its head and brought his shakujo down one last time, smashing it's skull in and killing it. "Be at peace in the World Beyond." Finishing a prayer for the passing of its soul, Naruto turned towards to where he heard a scream. "That sounded like Sakura."

Running off towards the source which was high in the trees, Naruto spotted both of his teammates on a branch below him, staring off at the Kusa-nin who stood in the corpse of a snake. Both looked scared out of there minds, how that happened, he had no idea. Seeing that the Kusa-nin began to _slither_ up to a higher branch to strike at his teammates, Naruto leapt down to the branch and easily smashing it with his shakujo; the poor branch didn't stand a chance as the brutal strike destroyed it. The kunoichi however stopped short of the strike as Naruto passed by her. 'Probably the rings gave me away,' he thought as he landed on a lower branch and stared up at the enemy.

"That was awesome Naruto," he heard Sakura shout, excited by his violent entrance. He had to admit, that it was pretty cool, even if it was unintentional; however, the situation didn't permit him to keep such thoughts in mind.

"Naruto I know that you think you're all cool now thinking that you're going to save us," he heard Sasuke shout this time which irked him. Seriously, he was there just to help and bail his teammates out; he wasn't looking to be cool. "But forget it; this guy is on a whole other level!"

The Kusa-nin chuckled as she stared down at him from the branch, "Well done in defeating my snake, Naruto-kun."

'He looks like a snake too from how he's all twisted around that branch,' the monk thought before realizing something. 'Wait, how did he know my name?' Naruto had no idea why, but he just knew that it spelt trouble. He decided to move to a higher branch and joined his teammates. "Why don't you try me on instead of them?"

"No," Sasuke shouted, pulling out the Scroll of Heaven that he held. "If it's our scroll that you want, just take it and go!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing," Naruto exclaimed, shocked by Sasuke's actions. In all their time together, he would have never expected Sasuke to do this. Even Sakura if that was her gasp that he heard. As soon as the Uchiha was about to toss it, Naruto slugged him hard. "What the hell are you thinking Coward? There is no chance that he'll just leave us alone even if we give him a scroll!"

"Oh this is rich," the Kusa-nin chuckled as she got up and stood on both legs while pulling up one sleeve and revealing a tattoo. "Naruto-kun is right. Why bargain when I can just kill you and take the scroll." She bit her thumb and smeared blood across the tattoo.

Seeing this, Naruto rushed the kunoichi with his shakujo raised. He heard Sasuke telling him to stop, but he ignored him, his faith in the Uchiha's skills which were shaky at best was shot. What ever little respect he held for him was gone. Just earlier that day, the first examiner told them that being a chunin required them to have a strong Will to make it through situations just like this one. As strong as the others believe Sasuke to be, they can believe what they choose to see and not the weak will genin who caved into his fear at the first sign of trouble. "Naruto," he heard his other teammate shout. He knew that she had faith in him, just as he has faith in her, encouraging her when she begins to doubt herself. There was no denying it, despite her crush on Sasuke, and how rude she has been at times, Naruto doesn't want to see her harmed by the hands of this overwhelming foe.

As he neared the kunoichi, she said, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," and a snake much larger then the last one appeared in a burst of smoke beneath her feet. It flicked its tail at the charging boy. Unable to dodge the blow from being stunned by the display of skill, Naruto flew through the air and smashed into a branch high above, his hat splintering from the force of the impact. "Hmm… It's Sasuke-kun's turn now…"

The massive never made it close to Sasuke, because it was at that moment, that Naruto came crashing down on it. "Heaven's Thunder," the monk cried as his shakujo smashed down into the head of the snake, his full weight thrown into; and the rings loudly ringing. The snake crashed into the ground before disappearing in the same manner that it appeared.

"What an interesting technique Naruto-kun," the Kusa-nin said as she smiled at him as they stood facing each other on the ground where the snake once was. "However…" She was now in his face with her fist buried in his stomach. All of Naruto's breath left his lungs from the brutal force of the attack. The only thing that kept him up at that moment was the fist of the kunoichi. "you may prove to be too troublesome…" The Kusa-nin pulled her fist back, allowing him to slump down to his knees retching.

'Damn it, get up,' the thought was flashing across the boy's mind as he tried to stand. 'Gramps hits harder then him, get up! I shall not fall here I will make Gramps proud.'

"Oh you still have some fight left in you Naruto-kun," his opponent commented as he slowly stood, using his shakujo to stand. "I think I should just end this now." She took a step closer to him but stopped as soon as the boy took on a fighting stance she had never seen before.

It hurt just to stand, it hurt to breath, his vision dimmed, and he couldn't deny that he felt a surge of power well up inside of him. The power was something that he became more familiar with over the past week, even if he couldn't explain what that power was; it brought a measure of comfort to him. When his opponent lashed out at him, he batted the attack away. When she lunged at him, he would dodge. When she launched a kick, he would block with his shakujo. He was moving on borrowed time, he could see his vision dimming even more, but he couldn't stop, not when he was needed, not when death was on the line.

'There,' he thought as he saw an opening and took it. Time seemed to slow as his shakujo flew at his foe's stomach. His shakujo shaking from the raw chakra that he poured into it; just waiting to explode from it upon impact; it did and his enemy exploded in a shower of gore. Unfortunately, that was when his body finally decided to give out from the abuse he took. He was so dazed from the fight that the sudden strike to his neck went unnoticed as he fell face first into the dirt, his shakujo tightly clutched in his hand.

* * *

Sakura was frightened, she was scared beyond all belief, but what scared her most wasn't the strange Kusa-nin, it was Sasuke's inability to fight. She had always believed him to be the strong silent boy who would face any form of adversity without flinching, and there he was, frozen in fear. The young kunoichi couldn't really blame him for that, but it was a blow to her crush as he allowed Naruto to face the powerful kunoichi alone. She would have joined in but she knew that if she joined in she would have been a hindrance and she had no ranged abilities to back the monk up. Both she and Naruto knew that until she improved and learned new skills, she wouldn't be of much help to either of her teammates if they had to cut loose.

Helping Sasuke out however in a fight wasn't something that she couldn't do much of unless she wanted to get caught in the crossfire of one of his ninjutsu's. It was a reason why she hung back during fights when her team needed to be really serious. Sadly, she was only able to get Sasuke back into the fight once it was too late, and even then, the kunoichi picked him apart before leaving a weird mark on his neck.

"What did you do to Sasuke-kun," she cried as she kneeled down next to her crush, while casting fearful glances at the ninja who defeated them.

"It's just a little something to remember me by," the Kusa-nin who identified herself as Orochimaru before biting Sasuke said as she disappeared into the tree.

Glancing around fearfully, waiting for the kunoichi to reappear, Sakura was pulled from her caution as Sasuke began to cry out in unbearable pain before passing out. "Hang on Sasuke," she cried as she tried to hold onto him. Looking over the edge of the branch, she could barely see Naruto's prone form. "What should I do?" Tears began to fall from her eyes as panic began to take root. She really had no idea on what to do. Sakura knew that she needed to find a place for them to rest, but she had to carry them both and that was out of the question. No matter what she can try, there was no way that she was going to be able to carry Naruto.

Looking down at the monk one last time, she screamed at the sight of the massive hulking red tiger that stood over the boy. It seemed to be sniffing him before carrying the boy off somewhere with its mouth. Only his splintered hat and shakujo remained.

Now it was truly hopeless, never before had she feel so helpless. She couldn't help either teammate, especially the one who tried to protect both her and Sasuke. There was no way that she could save him from that tiger now and protect Sasuke as well. As much as it went against the first lesson that Kakashi taught them, she had no choice but to abandon him.

After a few moments, she decided that she wasn't going to let Naruto's sacrifice to be in vain. She was going to live and she was going to make sure that Sasuke lived as well. If they made it out of the forest, she was going to visit his home and try to make peace with his grandfather if it was the last thing that she'll ever do. So lifting her crush up onto her back, she leapt down to the forest floor to collect Naruto's things. Knowing that his grandfather would appreciate having his things, she bent down to pick up the hat and found Slime inside it smiling at her. She paid the creature no heed as she put the hat over her head and then went to grab the three-ringed shakujo.

It was odd lifting the staff up, it was felt so heavy at first then the next instant it was as light as a feather in her hands. After closer inspection, she noticed that the shakujo only had one ring, it was weird but paid it no heed; it was Naruto's and for all she knew it was given to him by his grandfather. Looking over it one last time while it was in her hands, and she couldn't help but hold it closer to her; the old and well worn metal showed it's use and she can only guess at how many memories it held.

So with a heavy heart, she settled the Uchiha back on her back and began to leap away from the clearing with the only items left by Uzumaki Naruto. No matter what how much she tried, her tears wouldn't stop flowing down her cheeks as she moved through the trees. She just lost who she could honestly call, despite being a weird monk, a friend. For her this was much worse then when she found Sasuke full of senbon needles on the bridge; this time Naruto was truly gone and she couldn't have done anything about the tiger that took him off to someplace to have a snack. "I'm sorry Naruto," she mumbled as she began to search for a safe place to settle down and begin to tend to the Uchiha.

* * *

_Author's Note_: Yea a bit long, but it would have been longer if I didn't stop it where I did. I had pictured doing one chapter per test but I don't know why but I can't seem to stop myself now until I hit twenty pages. There seems to be a loathing for my old shoddy work where chapters used to be about five to ten pages at best (Looking back at _Naruto of the Demonic Bloodlines_). This one ended up being twenty-seven pages (Just so everyone is clear, all chapters in original form are in Size 12 Font and Single Spaces). I just had to stop it here; I blame it on being inspired to write after getting my hands back on the early volumes of the series.

Anyway, don't think that this is the end, it is far from there. I'm very much tempted to tackle Naruto Shippuuden: The Movie just to see how both Naruto and Shion would act towards each other. Though as it stands now with the Alternate Universe that I slowly creating here, I can see some animosity towards each other; sorta like where two people just can't stand each other. This would still be part of _The Monk_, so I'm holding back... for now.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto, or anything else that appears in the story. All I own are the Original Characters.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

It was getting darker in the forest, dusk has approached. Anko and Jhadow were furiously dashing through the forest, looking for any signs of their prey. The kunoichi was anxious about finding the murderer, especially with it being so close to nightfall. "Anko-han, you know the bastard better then I do," Jhadow asked as he surprisingly kept up with her pace. "Any idea why he's here and impersonating an examinee?"

She shook her head, knowing that he didn't really see it, but she knew that he could tell all the same. "I have no idea; it's been years since I've last seen the bastard." She leapt over a branch. "It doesn't really matter though; he's become an S-Rank nuke-nin since he's fled the village. I'm going to kill him and end his madness once and for all!"

Silence enveloped them as they continued on until Jhadow overtook her and changed directions. "This way," he commanded as he began to move again.

"Are you sure he's this way?"

"Not really but trust me on this."

"Is this some kind of weird monk stuff?"

"I'll tell you some other… That is a big snake…"

"Yea it is," Anko commented as she eyed the massive snake on the ground, its skull had been smashed in. "This is one of his summon's; the bastard is near." She glanced back over her shoulder, while Jhadow surveyed the area. "Who do you think did this?"

Turning back to the snake, she noticed that Jhadow was next to its head. "Look's like Naruto did this," he commented as he placed a hand on it. "Judging by how its head is smashed, it was done by with a blunt weapon. I could be wrong but I'm not, not with signs of the kid being here."

Looking back at the snake, Anko could feel a small measure of pride swell in her heart at the knowledge of the young monk slaying such a beast. Unfortunately she couldn't bask in it as she had to squash it; she was a predator on the hunt, hunting what can be the most dangerous of game. Glancing over at the man with her, she noticed that he had his head tilted to the side and gave an almost imperceptible nod to some unseen speaker. "What is it," the jonin asked as she joined his side.

"He went this way," Jhadow stated as he dashed off again. The jonin couldn't help but follow him once more as he had lead her to a good lead already so he might do so again.

"Look not that I don't appreciate the help so far," she began as her pace matched his. "But why are you doing this really? This hasn't got anything to do with you. The bastard is on a whole other level; he was once considered a candidate for the title of Hokage."

"I'm here for you, the kid, and Gramps," he stated as he gave her a brief look before flipping over a branch. "Anko, if something happens to you, they'd be sad, and even though we haven't known each other for long, but I like you. You have spunk and I like that." If Anko was going to be truthful, it was the first time he said her name without that damned honorific; she also knew that he was very serious about the situation, more then before. "Besides, if you die, I lose out on a fun puzzle to solve…" She hurled a kunai at him yet he flipped over her to the other side of her; he did it with a chuckle. "That's the spirit!"

"So all I am to you is a project," she growled as more kunai slipped into her hands.

"Anko-han, everyone is a puzzle to be solved," he offhandedly said as he came to a stop in another clearing. "Looks like the kid was here too; just take a look at the signs. He fell here… alive, but was carried off by a tiger… how odd."

"You can tell all that by looking?" She took in the sights as well, but kept an eye out for their prey.

"Yeah, the kid lost, but he should be fine… I hope he is." As much as Anko knew that both of them wanted to check on Naruto, she knew that they couldn't do that. The exam is still going on and the wildlife is part of the dangers that were part of the scenario. "Hmm… the bastard went up to the canopy and the pink-haired girl came down here and collected the kid's hat and shakujo. Looks like she was also carrying some extra weight, seems to be the other teammate was incapacitated. She came down after the tiger came, probably was tending to who was closer at the time and needed more attention." The jonin growled. "What is it?"

Anko clenched her fists. "The Haruno girl has a crush on the Uchiha boy. It's pretty well known that she and a few other girls in the village are crazy about him. She most likely ignored him."

The man shook his head and crouched down at a spot. "See this here, they are tears, she lamented over losing Naruto." He then looked up, "We should move on, staying here won't do any good." They then took off once again, moving further into the darkening forest; there thoughts to themselves.

It would be only a little while before they would stop once again. "What now," Anko hissed, her seal acting up more now then before and it was beginning to really get on her nerves. Her answer was him fixing his attention on a tree; looking at it, she saw what he saw. Melded to the trunk of a massive tree, was the kunoichi who was murdered earlier that day. She instantly knew who it was, her Cursed Seal of Heaven indicating who it was. The Konoha-nin narrowed her eyes on the person who she once loved and respected. "Orochimaru."

The person chuckled, "My how have you grown Anko-chan. Who might that young man with you be?"

Kunai slid into Anko's waiting hands, she was about to hurl them but stopped once Jhadow put a hand on her shoulder. Glancing angrily at him, she noticed that he was looking up and away from their target. "Clever bastards," he mumbled low enough only for her to hear. "Careful, remember that there were three bodies and three went in." Her eyes widened at as she realized what was going on. Jhadow turned his attention back to Orochimaru while folding his arms into his sleeves. "My name is Jhadow, wandering scholar. It is a pleasure to meet you Orochimaru."

"Oh so you're a man of knowledge are you?" Orochimaru chuckled condescendingly. "What knowledge do you seek?"

"Not the kind that would damn my humanity." Jhadow narrowed his eyes; Anko fixed her attention back to their target. "Tell me, did you plant your seal on Anko before or after you're change?"

Anko was confused, not following what Jhadow asked; however, Orochimaru seemed to know and narrowed his own eyes at the man. "Oh and what makes you say that?"

"You're part demon." The kunoichi's eyes widened from shock. "You reek of one who gave up his humanity for quick power. You're stench is foul, too foul to be truly human anymore."

"It was long before Anko-chan became my little tool," the murderer said as he separated himself from the trunk. "I devoured the heart of a snake demon back when I first began my pursuit for immortality. Sadly, gaining the power of a demon didn't mean I became immortal, just stronger."

"You're Seal of Heaven is part of that research?"

"Oh yes it is and I just gave one very beautiful boy my gift." The sennin licked his lips. "He seems quite exceptional and possesses what I need to become God! Something that Anko-chan lacked."

Anko's blood froze; she instantly knew who he is talking about. She knew what else the man sought. He always wanted to learn every jutsu in the world, and only one boy in the forest had the means to make that happen. "Uchiha Sasuke," Anko growled out as she prepared to hurl her knives. "You are here for more then him though. I know you too well that you wouldn't risk coming to the village just for that! You're here to assassinate Hokage-sama aren't you?"

Orochimaru chuckled once again, finding the situation amusing. "Why Anko-chan, I lack the proper manpower to pull off such a plan. I'm here to recruit exceptional ninja to aid me."

"You're gift will turn them to you're side," the younger man asked, though Anko could tell he was curious because of her own case. She knew that he was fishing for information about her seal, and most likely Orochimaru as well.

"Why her gift was the very first of many, not everything was worked out." Orochimaru then dusted off his pants. "Well it's been fun chatting, but I have places to be and plots to unleash. Benisato, Shijima, take care of these pests for me why don't you."

Before Anko could react, she was pushed out of the way by Jhadow and fell to a lower branch. Looking up, she saw that Orochimaru disappeared in a plume of smoke and Jhadow was holding off one genin that entered with Orochimaru with a shakujo that he pulled out of nowhere while the other was where she once stood. It felt so surreal to Anko as time seemed to freeze as the two genins bodies bulged and then shifted into what could only be described as demons; both looked like snakes with long clawed arms; the only difference between them was that one had a hood like a cobra and had grayish scales while the other was as red as blood.

"Oh fuck," was all Anko could say as her eyes widened. Of all the things she was expecting to be facing, it wasn't demons. Her instincts kicked in as the branch that Jhadow was on, snapped from the violence unleashed by the attack of the two demons. Seeing that the man was falling while struggling with one of the two snakes; snakes flew from her sleeves and snagged his ankle as he fell past. From the sudden stop jerked the red one that he struggled with flew down to the forest floor and crashed. As Anko swung Jhadow to another branch, the gray demon came at her. Seeing that she had to move dropped off the other side of the branch.

As she fell, Jhadow rose past her, and as he passed her, he gave her a smirk. Once she was low enough she released her snakes and dropped to the ground, knowing that Jhadow was currently fighting off the other demon up top while leaving the other to her. The red one was upon her in an instant, proving how resilient it was after crashing down to the ground.

"I am Benisato of the Kimon Devils," it hissed as it swiped a clawed hand at the kunoichi. "You're soul is mine mortal."

Anko spun around the claw swipe and slashed at Benisato with her own kunai which scrapped against the demons scales. "You'll have to work for it Bitch," she shouted as nervousness began to settle. She had never fought a demon before; and they were rare to come across and almost always ended badly for the ones who fought against them. Dancing around more attacks, Anko couldn't do any damage with her knives, so gaining some distance away; she began making seals for a jutsu.

Seeing what the kunoichi was doing, the demon lunged at her once again but failed as the young woman flipped over it and shot flames out of her mouth. The demon was bathed in flames until Anko was sure that there was no movement inside the inferno. Walking up to the burnt husk that was the demon, she kicked it and her foot went right through the skin. "Cast off skin," she exclaimed as the ground behind her exploded. Debris blew into her face, blinding her, but her instincts saved her life when the demon snapped it maw at her. The demon flew over her body as she ducked under it. Not prepared for the action, Benisato tripped over her body and flipped onto her back. Before the demon could get react, Anko stabbed Benisato in the eye, driving it all the way to its brain. It died with a spasm as it unleashed an unearthly shriek of pain and rage.

Catching her breath for the moment, Anko looked up only to see the other demon crash to the ground a few yards away from her. It didn't move but that didn't stop Jhadow, who followed it during its downward flight, from smashing its head in with his shakujo. "You okay Anko," Jhadow asked as he turned his attention away from his kill. He slid the staff into one of his coat sleeves and it vanished.

Blinking at the action, because that was really odd to see, she briefly shook off her shock and said, "Yea, it's the bitch's blood, not mine." The man gave a brief nod before sighing. "What's wrong?"

"Bastard got away," he explained as he looked around at the trees.

If he said anything else, it was lost to her as pain from the seal on her neck flared; her world just seemed to disappear around her. Everything was gone, the forest, the demons, the blood covering her, only her. Those words cut her and destroyed all that was around her. Anko then fell to her knees but didn't quite make it as Jhadow moved in and caught her. The last sight she saw before darkness overtook her was the concern that clearly showed on Jhadow's face and something else that she couldn't quite see.

* * *

"I wish that I could take us to one of the gates," Sakura said as she placed a damped rag on top of Sasuke's forehead. Next to her in the hollowed out tree that she found, sat Slime who kept on smiling, even in the dark, she could see it. "But it's too dangerous for us to travel." There wasn't much really she could have done, with Naruto gone, and Sasuke with a fever, traveling now was just asking for trouble, and she knew it. Even though Sakura wasn't as strong or cunning as her two teammates, she knew the basics well enough. "I have to keep you both safe, for Naruto."

Glancing to her side, she looked down at the ruined hat and the now one-ringed shakujo, trademarked items of her teammate. It has been a few hours since they encounter and the pain was still fresh; she could barely hold back her tears from what happened. Taking the hat, she placed it over her head and then laid the shakujo over her knees. Looking back down at her crush, she couldn't help but feel doubt in her affections for him. Sasuke left Naruto alone to fight the man himself, despite the knowledge he was only interested in their lives.

Turning her attention back to Slime, she said, "Go to sleep, I'll watch over us tonight and make sure that we're safe." Slime nodded and did something that she didn't expect, it leapt into her lap. Annoyance briefly flared before she squashed it, Slime was a friend of Naruto's and was left behind by the monk when the tiger came. She moved the shakujo to her side once again and began to hum a soft lullaby that her mother song to her as she gentle rubbed the little blue creature.

Until dawn, she sat awake while comforting the odd creature while its presence brought her the comfort that she needed. The shock of losing one teammate while the other was struck with a fever was almost too much for her to handle. Seeing that it was there was light, she sent a worried look down at Sasuke before looking at Slime. Leaning over the creature, she removed the rag from Sasuke's head, and poured clean water over it before replacing it back on his head.

Nodding off, she shook herself awake, knowing that she can't let herself fall asleep yet despite her exhaustion; to do so could end with their deaths and she had a mission to do. 'I will get us out of here, even if it's the last thing that I do,' she thought before she heard the faint tap of something moving. Snapping wide awake, she drew a kunai and turned to towards the source. 'A squirrel…'

The squirrel stood there, looking at her before moving closer towards her. Seeing where it was moving towards, she hurled a kunai at it. It stopped before dashing off into the woods. After making sure that it ran off, she returned back to watching over both Sasuke and Slime; however Slime was now wide awake from her urgent actions to stop the rodent.

"You've been up all night haven't you," a mocking voice asked, surprising Sakura. Quickly turning around and drawing a new kunai, she spotted the team from Otogakure no Sato. "If you'd please, wake up Sasuke for us. Once you do that, you can take a break. We only want to have a _talk _with him."

Looking them over, the Konoha-nin gasped at the sight of there hitae-ate's. "What are you talking about? I know that Orochimaru is pulling the strings here, so what do you want?" Fear overtaking her, not wanting to take on three ninja who were fully prepared for her in her state of fatigue. Her use of the name gave him some confidence; it seemed that they weren't expecting her to know that. "What does this mark on Sasuke's neck mean? Either way, Sasuke-kun is in no condition to fight you now. Get out of here and leave us be!"

The Oto-nin's didn't back down; the bandaged-faced one pondered, "I wonder what Orochimaru-sama is up to?"

"Whatever, I can't turn my back after hearing that," his spiky haired teammate said as he stared at Sakura. "I'll kill both you and you're precious Sasuke-_kun_ too!" He made to move but stopped when the bandaged faced ninja ordered him to stop. "Why?"

"Zaku, she's been setting traps," he stated as he bent down and moved some grass from the dirt. Sakura met the gaze of his single eye, feeling panic starting to snare her heart. "What's the point of laying these traps if you leave the signs of one that'll warn your prey?"

"She's an amateur," the now identified Zaku exclaimed. "She only threw the kunai to keep the rat from springing it then."

"Yeah, though she is of no use to us, so let's eliminate her first," bandage face ordered as the three of them leapt into the air. As soon as they reached the apex of their jump, Sakura smirked as her kunai cut a wire behind her. A giant log swung down at the three Oto-nins; unfortunately for Sakura, the log she used exploded and the Oto-nins came at her. "You're such a no-talent who should have worked harder!"

"Konoha senpuu," a green blur shouted as he kicked all three of the Oto-nins away. Standing before Sakura was Lee. "As you should have as well."

"Who the hell are you," the leader of the Oto-nin's asked as he got up.

"Why I am Konoha's beautiful green beast," Lee said as he took a fighting stance with the squirrel that Sakura recognized from before on his shoulder. "My name is Rock Lee."

"Why are you here," Sakura asked as she stared at Lee's back, her hand reaching for Naruto's shakujo.

Not looking at her, Lee settled the rodent onto the ground. "I came because I will always be there for you for when you need me."

A tear came to her eye; she wiped it away as she looked over Sasuke. Standing up with the shakujo in her hands. "Thanks for the help Lee."

"I promised when we met did I not? That I would protect you until I die." That seemed to have struck her as strange because they only had just met the day before. Though it did make her feel odd as well about her own feelings for Sasuke, but she put the thoughts to the back of her head; now wasn't the time for self-reflection. Sakura did giggle as she noticed how happy he seemed after that statement.

"Zaku, take this," the leader said as he tossed a scroll to his teammate. "They're as good as dead." Seeing that he made a move, Sakura tensed waiting to counter his charge if he managed to get past Lee. As he neared, the kunoichi hurled a kunai at him forcing him to leap into the air and dive at Lee. The green clad boy drove his fist into the ground.

"What the hell," Sakura shouted out of shock at the sight of Lee dragging up a massive root and stopping the attack of the enemy leader. 'He's so strong,' she thought while seeing how much more of a mismatch his fight with Sasuke was.

"I've seen you're attacks," Lee stated as he held the root up over his head. "I'd be wasting my time dodging as if they were real. His opponent leapt back to gain some distance and as he did that, Lee began unwrapping the bandages around his arms.

The leader went in to attack again, but Lee vanished to reappear underneath him with a kick shooting the Oto-nin into the air. Lee followed in an instant and managed to wrap his bandages around the Oto-nin. As they reached the apex of their ascent, the Konoha-nin grabbed onto his opponent and began spinning downwards towards the earth. "Take this… Omote Renge!"

The Oto-nin was driven into the ground headfirst while at the last second, Lee leapt away. Unfortunately, even though the genin was driven into the ground headfirst, he was able to walk away from it. "Heh, looks like I made it Dosu," Zaku said catching Sakura's attention. She saw that his hands were buried into the ground and the ground seemed to have been pushed upwards from them to where his teammate landed.

"Yea thanks," Dosu replied as he pulled his sleeve back to reveal his gauntlet covered arm. "It's my turn now." He launched himself at Lee once again and managed to get close when the Konoha-nin clumsily sidestepped. The punch missed, but Lee still went down to his knees. Sakura shouted out his name from his position near Sasuke and Slime, her grip on Naurto's shakujo becoming tighter as the fight moved on. "You may be fast, but my attacks are the speed of sound! It'll be some time before you get up; now it's your turn Girly."

Sakura readied herself, adopting a stance that she remembered Naruto using with the shakujo. It felt weird to her as she never really practiced with one before; though the added reach of it would help her in fighting them. 'That device on his arm must be part of his trick,' she thought, trying to analyze Dosu's technique, but preparing herself to provide cover for Lee should he need it.

It wasn't long before the Oto-nin lunged at her, but he was once again stopped by a green blur. This time Dosu was prepared for Lee and blocked the taijutsu combo. He countered with his own attack that Lee was barely able to block. "Stupid," Dosu muttered as he watched Lee struggle against his arm. "This gauntlet amplifies sound waves to the utmost limits, and I can use my chakra to direct the sound however I want!" After that, Lee fell to the ground, unmoving yet groaning. "Now to finish off this bug…" Dosu didn't get the chance as Sakura was in his face just as he was about to bring his fist down upon Lee. The Oto-nin grunted as he blocked the shakujo with his gauntlet. "Not bad…"

The next thing Sakura knew, she was blown away. Rolling over the ground, she came to a stop, the shakujo in her hands. Getting to her knees, a hand grabbed her by her hair. "You got lovely hair," the third Oto-nin said as she stood over Sakura. "Trying to be a sexy kunoichi when you should have been training? You are a disgrace to ninjas everywhere! Hey Zaku, why don't you drag the Uchiha out here and kill him right in front of her eyes. It'll be amusing to see her reaction to it."

Those words caused Sakura to freeze and release Naruto's weapon. 'I'm too weak,' she thought as her hands grabbed at the dirt in frustration. 'I'm the one who is always being protected, always in the way, and always the burden.' She closed her eyes as Zaku began to walks towards Sasuke. Her eyes snapped open as she pulled out a kunai.

"That's not gonna work on me Pig," the girl behind her said with mirth. Sakura could only smirk as she brought her kunai up and cut clean through her long hair, freeing herself from the enemy's grasp. Dropping the small blade, she grabbed the shakujo once more and made it to her feet this time. As she turned to face the girl, she felt the kunoichi tackle her. Sakura could imagine the surprise on the other girl's face when she rushed into the log she substituted herself with expecting her to have made a move like that.

'That one must specialize in ranged attacks,' Sakura thought as she reappeared to one side of the clearing. He saw her and aimed his palms at her, a blast of wind shot towards her. Sakura substituted herself once more to the other side of Zaku, and did it again as he followed her. She reappeared above him with the shakujo raised ready to strike. Zaku followed her again and hurled a kunai at her; it grazed her, but he looked away expecting her to have done the same trick again. It was his mistake as he barely had time to block the metal staff.

Sakura heard and felt his arm break as he tried to block with it. She pulled the shakujo back and swung again, grazing his chest as he leapt back. He had his other hand up and another blast of wind shot forth and knocked her back. Prepared she flew up and prepared to charge Zaku when all of a sudden Dosu was in her face with his fist. He was too close for her to block and with that gauntlet of his, it meant trouble for her. The fist connected and kunoichi was staggered from the blow.

"Bitch," Zaku muttered as he flew at her expecting her to be easy to finish now. It wasn't, Dosu's trick failed to render her helpless. Too close to swing the staff, she dropped to the ground and planted her foot into his stomach. Sakura felt pleasure as she watched the air leave his body. Rolling away and jumping to her feet, she was ready once again to take them on.

Sensing a threat she sidestepped two needles that were aimed for her. "That should do it," the enemy kunoichi stated as she finally joined the fight. Sakura looked over at her before hearing a bell. Her world became distorted as she nausea overtook her; she fell to her knees.

The next thing she knew, she was being pummeled by the one called Zaku. It lasted for a while; she knew that he was taking pleasure in beating her for what she did. All she knew was pain, it was there, and her thoughts of getting both Sasuke and Slime out of the forest were being driven from her mind. That is until a voice cut through the clearing, "I can't stand this anymore." Zaku stopped his beating.

Through her haze, she could see Neji, the guy that Naruto told her was Hinata's cousin and his teammate standing over the clearing on a branch. 'Lee's teammates,' she thought as she tried to get a better look at them.

"Stupid rats coming out," she heard her attacker mutter as he left her a moment's respite.

"See that annoying guy over there," Neji stated as he looked down at the Oto-nins. "He's our teammate and you're going to pay for what you did. Stop while you can before I give you everything I got…" He trailed off as he began to glance around, searching for something.

"If you don't like it why don't you do something about it," Dosu said as he got ready for a fight. From her spot, Sakura could see him glancing at his gauntlet every now and then. Looking at it, she couldn't help but feel proud for destroying it and ending his trick. 'If you know how a trick works, it's useless,' she remembered Kakashi tell her team once back during that C-Rank mission. 'Some ninja's are solely dependent on a single trick, if it's discovered; they are as good as dead.'

As she climbed to her knees, she heard Neji say, "From the looks of it, I won't have to."

Hearing a groan, she turned her attention to the source and found Sasuke rising with smoke coming off of his body. She felt joy at him waking, but seeing the hatred in his eyes and the strange black marks covering his body, she felt that same joy disappear in an instant. "Sakura, who did that to you," she heard Sasuke ask her as he eyed the others in the clearing. "Who was it?"

She didn't answer, but Zaku did, "It was us." The Uchiha fixed his attention onto the Oto-nins.

"Sasuke," she finally found her voice. "You're body…"

The Uchiha looked down at his hands and told her not to worry about, "I feel overwhelming power flowing through me. It feels amazing. I got it from that man. If I must make a deal with the devil, then I must if it means that I gain the power needed to become an Avenger." He ignored her worried look, as he fixed his attention once more on Zaku.; who seemed ready to launch a blast of wind at the Uchiha. Wind flew, decimating the hollowed out tree, and Sakura felt her heart clench. As the smoke from the blast settled, nothing remained.

"Heh, I blew him away," the Oto-nin said before freezing. Next to him was Sasuke and he backhanded the Oto-nin across the clearing. As soon as Zaku got back to his feet, multiple fireballs were flying at him; placing his good hand in front, he sent another blast of wind, dispelling the fire only to reveal that each ball had a shuriken inside. A two of the flying blades stabbed him while the others grazed him. Zaku could do nothing as Sasuke was on top of him with both arms held behind his back and the Uchiha's foot on his back.

That dark and devilish look on Sasuke's face frightened Sakura. "So you're proud of your arms," the cursed boy said as he put more pressure on his captive's arms and back. "Let's see how proud you are after this…" A resounding snap was heard throughout the clearing, and Sakura could only imagine how much worse Zaku's already broken arm was after that trauma. The boy was so overwhelmed by pain that he fell unconscious. "Then there were two." Sasuke turned his attention to the two remaining Oto-nins who took a step back from his gaze alone. "I hope that you're both more of a challenge than he was."

Sakura couldn't take it; this wasn't who her teammate was, or who she assumed he was, but she knew that he never acted like this before. She flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around his chest as she hugged him from behind. "Stop it," she cried as tears once more poured down her face. Any other time she would have reveled in the feeling of him in her arms, but those that was not now. Now she was frightened and she didn't want him continuing this madness. Seeing that he looked back at her with his doujutsu, she muttered, "Please, please stop…"

Her pleading must have worked, he relaxed and the black marks disappeared from his body. Once the marks were gone, she felt his body go slake in her arms, and she gently lowered Sasuke to the ground.

"You're strong," Dosu said interrupting Sakura's thoughts on her teammate. "We have no chance of defeating you as you are now. We'll give you our scroll if you let us leave." The boy in her arms grunted, she could tell that he was smirking despite his condition. Taking that as an agreement, Dosu carefully walked over to Zaku and lifted him up after taking the scroll out of his teammates pouch and tossing it over to both Sasuke and Sakura. "We'll let you go for now, but next time we'll stay and fight."

As the Oto-nins began to leave to lick their wounds, Sakura called out, "Wait, who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke?"

Dosu looked back, supporting Zaku with his other teammate, "I don't know, we were only following orders." Sakura didn't know for sure, but it felt like they truly were ordered and had no idea what was going on. The Oto-nins then retreated into the forest.

"What happened to me," she heard Sasuke say, and she couldn't help but worry for her crush and about what just happened. He was so dark, so cold, and taking pure joy out of what he was doing. It was completely wrong to her. She didn't give much of a second thought as the memory of the events of the fight finally caught up.

Sakura, in the middle of helping Sasuke up, dropped him as she darted back towards the tree that she was using for cover. She frantically looked around the wreckage that was once the tree. Sasuke wasn't her sole responsibility, and now it was very much likely that her other charge was now gone after that massive attack that her crush avoided. Flinging rocks and sticks to the side, she found Naruto's splintered hat. Fear filling her body once more, dread seizing her, not wanting to see what might be under the hat, but knew she had to. Without much of a second thought, and ignoring those around her, she lifted the hat. "Slime," she cried as she found the battered and bruised creature who smiled up at her. Grabbing it, she brought it up to her face and hugged it as she cried tears of happiness. "I'm so glad that you fine!" It rubbed against her face. Sakura fell to her knees, happy that Naruto's friend was all right.

She was broken from his moment when Lee's voice pierced through her mind, "I see that you are okay Sakura-san."

Turning around, she saw Lee being supported by his kunoichi teammate. He looked to be a mess; she smiled, "Thank you for your help Lee, you really came through."

"I am unworthy of such praise Sakura-san," the older boy said as he looked down at the ground. "You should be praising Sasuke-kun, he is the one who drove the Oto-nin away. It seems that those of the Uchiha clan have been granted great and incredible power." Sakura noticed that Sasuke was near, and could tell that he was shocked by the statement, but his pride in his accomplishment over Lee replaced it with his infamous smirk. "Sakura-san, the Konoha Lotus blooms twice. The next time we meet, I'll be a stronger man. That I promise you."

Smiling at his kind words, and touched by them, she nodded, "Yeah!" After that, both Lee and his team were gone, heading off somewhere else into the forest to continue with the exam. Their exit though, despite Lee's exuberance, fell on Sakura's deaf ears as she turned her attention back to Slime, holding it closer to her being, not wanting to lose anyone else at the moment. Sasuke was fine, he was up and about, but Slime, it was a frail creature and it kept her company throughout the night; much better company than Sasuke ever was. "Shh, we'll make it out of here and get you back home."

"Sakura, we're not quitting," Sasuke said, cutting her thoughts and peace. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him looming over her. "Where is the Dobe?"

She knew that Sasuke was going to ask this, and she's been preparing herself all night long as she kept watch, but her voice was stuck in her throat; she looked down at the ground, ashamed of what happened. Sensing her feelings, Slime rubbed against her face and smiled that same happy smile it always had plastered on it face. Taking a breath, she schooled emotions and said, "He's gone Sasuke. After the man did whatever he did to you and left, a tiger came and took Naruto before I could tend to him."

Shock and anger flew across Sasuke's face, and the kunoichi could only guess that he was hoping it wasn't true, but he caught sight of the shakujo, and the hat. "That's not the Dobe's stupid stick is it?" Her heart clenched at the disrespect shown towards their fallen teammate, she could only nod. "Why does it only have one ring?" She had no idea, but explained how after she picked it up, two of the rings disappeared. "Must be a stupid monk thing then." Looking down at the kunoichi, she could feel his displeasure at the situation. "We're going to continue. Sakura, throw that _thing_ away and give me the hat."

Those words hurt like a punch to the gut; Sakura was stunned. "But Sasuke, we can't continue without Naruto! We have a responsibility now to Naruto to make sure we get Slime and his things back to his grandfather!"

"We can and we will," the shinobi snarled as he rounded on Sakura, fury blazing in his eyes. "I will not be disqualified because the Dobe got himself killed. He died because he was weak." His fury turned towards Slime, and Sakura backed away from him clutching Slime tighter to her; this wasn't the boy who she had a crush on and it was breaking her heart even further. Sasuke made a hand-seal that Sakura was very familiar with, but it wasn't one she's seen the boy use before, "Kage Buunshin no Jutsu!" A single clone of the Uchiha appeared in a burst of smoke, while Sasuke was bent over his knees, trying to catch his breath. "Transform into the Dobe and take his hat and stick, we're moving on. If you don't do as I say, I will leave you behind and leave you to what's in this forest."

Sakura watched as the clone transform into Naruto, tears running freely down her face now at seeing the familiar whisker face, but it wasn't Naruto's, it was all Sasuke while wearing the monks face. She watched it pick up the shakujo, and a new ring appeared. "Has some weight to it," it said using Naruto's voice yet it wasn't. It struggled picking it up which the kunoichi found odd in the very back of her mind. She didn't know how much further her heart could clench, but it did at seeing the blatant disrespect for their teammate. Sakura silently watch the clone finish its appearance off by picking up the splintered hat and placing it on its head. "I'm ready."

"Good," the original said, finally catching his breath; he reached out for Slime. A resounding smack could be heard through the clearing.

"Don't you dare lay you're selfish cowardly hands on Slime," Sakura shouted as she slapped her crushes hand away. Fury blazing in her soul, finally having enough of what happened and the bastard's mockery of Naruto's sacrifice. "How dare you, how dare you do this! You bastard, you only care about your own promotion and not what…" She didn't finish as Sasuke slapped her face, the blow so great that in her weary body, she fell to the side; her grip on Slime loosening only slightly before hitting the ground. Looking up at her former crush, she flinched from the sight of the rage blazing in his eyes, his doujutsu active and spinning menacingly as he looked down at her. Even as she flinched, her fury didn't wane.

"How dare you, you Bitch," he growled as he once again reached for her. "This is the thanks that I get for saving you pathetic excuse of a ninja! I drove those weaklings off, when Lee couldn't. I'm here, I'm powerful, I'm an Uchiha, an elite."

"I'm not some weak kunoichi," Sakura growled as she turned away, but was held in place by his clone. "I tended to both you and Slime after what happened. I stayed up watching over you all night long, I held the Oto-nins off long enough for you to recover, and even then, all you did was brutally harm one of them. You didn't fight all three, you fought one, and once they saw that you were up and ready for a fight, they backed off. Me and Lee held them off, you were fresh, they were not. So don't you dare get all high and mighty on me, I am strong, I did more to them then what Lee did." She could tell that was like a slap to his face as he flinched. He growled and struck her face.

"Don't you ever talk back to me," the boy snarled as he brought his fist back. "Now where is that _thing_?"

Dazed from the blow, Sakura could barely understand what her former crush was saying. All she knew was Slime was in trouble, but he was no longer in his arms. Through her pain, she felt a small manner of comfort coming from her stomach. "I… I don't know Sasuke," she mumbled as she tried to get up but was once again restrained by the clone. She hated this, she hated seeing Sasuke using Naruto's face and sneer down at her, making her feel like an insignificant worm. It hurt her, far then a blade or club could harm her. Sasuke was now definitely not the boy she knew and crushed on; he was a horrible person, one who doesn't really care about her.

'Would he… if given the chance just leave me behind,' she thought through her pain addled mind. 'Leave me in some forgotten ditch as you carry on.' Her tears threatened to spill once again. She hated this, these moments where she feels vulnerable, it makes her sick. 'He's worse then trash…' Sadly, she mumbled the last word and Sasuke struck her once more; hard enough to knock her out.

* * *

She had no idea as to how long she has been out, all she knew was that her head hurt and she had no recollection of why; all she knew was that she was being carried by, "Naruto…?" The monk was carrying her on his back; the jingle of his staff brought her closer to total consciousness.

"You're awake," the monk said as he looked over his shoulder at her. She gasped, it may have been her teammates face, but it wasn't. That was when she remembered what Sasuke was doing; a small part of her was thankful for not being left behind, but seeing Sasuke parade a clone around as Naruto, it was too much for her and she began to cry again. "You're weak."

"Shut up," she exclaimed as she smacked the clone, dispelling it. She fell to the ground along with both the splintered hat and the shakujo. "Sasuke, where are we?" She snarled as she grasped the shakujo; idly noting that it now has one ring.

The shinobi sent her a nasty look with his doujutsu flaring in his eyes; the sight sent shivers down her spine and she flinched. "We're almost at the tower. We'll wait by it for the next team to pass by to take their scroll."

Sakura had no idea why but she was wary of the boy, and didn't take her eyes off of him as she picked up the fallen hat before placing it on her head. The two of them slowly walked out of the tree line and saw the tower. It loomed over them in the middle of the forest, and sitting on a step in front of one of the sealed doors sat a hunched figure. Sakura couldn't quite make out who it was. Lying next to the figure, was the very same red tiger that she saw earlier in the exam. "Hey guys what took you so long," the figure greeted with a wave.

Seeing who it was, Sakura dashed with abandonment and tackled the figure, "Naruto!" They fell back onto the ground with her on top of Naruto. She knew that he had no idea of what was going on but that didn't stop her from crying at the sight of the monk; thoughts of what happened buried to the furthest reaches of her mind as happiness overtook her. She didn't care about how he was still alive, and how that tiger that was hovering over her was the very same tiger from the previous day, she was happy that he was still alive. Sakura had no idea as to how long they were on the ground, with her crying into Naruto's kosode, but it had to have been a while because her tears finally stopped. "How?" Looking down at his blue eyes, she could easily read his confusion. "How are you still alive?"

His widened as realization dawned, "Oh well Benitora here just took me away so that I could recover. He thought that I was wandering around the forest once again and thought I ended up way over my head." He glanced at the massive tiger that was lying on its front paws; ignoring the tear streaked face of his teammate. "The big lug would never hurt a fly." Sakura couldn't tell, but she thought that the tiger snickered. "Okay, he wouldn't hurt me; we've been best friends since we were little." The kunoichi couldn't help but blink owlishly at the boy beneath until he made a motion.

Getting up, she blushed out of embarrassment and scratched the back of her head like he has done so many times before. Looking down and then back, she sees Slime with the monk's items that she held onto. Walking over to retrieve them, she ignored the glare and the questioning look she was receiving from her teammates. Heading to Naruto, Slime was resting on her shoulder while his hat and shakujo were in her hands. "Here," she quietly said as she handed his items back. He looked grateful for having them back, especially so with her taking care of them; though he did look upset about the lose of the hat.

"Oh man," he muttered while studying the hat. "Now my badass monk look is ruined!" She couldn't help but chuckle at his pout. "Hey I know look like a cheap poor monk who can't even take care of his hat!"

"They are cheap hats you can find anywhere Dobe," Sasuke muttered as he finally walked up. "They are a dime a dozen and sold everywhere."

"It's hard finding just the right one Bastard," Naruto growled, not liking the look Sasuke was giving him. "So mind telling me what happened while I was gone?" His blue eyes locked with her green eyes. "You look like hell Sakura. What happened to you're hair?"

Blushing once more under his attention, she explained the events of what happened, starting from when the monk was defeated to them being reunited. She omitted a few parts for both his and her benefit. The glare that Sasuke was giving her could have killed her if they could kill and she didn't want to worry Naruto about the actions of their teammate. "As for my hair," she glanced down before looking up at the boy while rubbing her hair. "Well I wanted a new look, and it looked like as good of time as any with that kunoichi holding onto me." She smiled at him as he gave her a proud look.

"You look good with short hair." The kunoichi had to look away, her blush refusing to die down. "Anyway, see what I told ya." He moved to scratch Benitora behind the ears. "You are strong. Remember what I told you before the exams began?" She nodded. "Strength and jutsu's don't matter, its Will. You stood your ground against the three of them with Lee out of action. That right there just shows that you're Will is strong…" Sasuke snorted, but they both ignored him. "And that is all that matters because with a strong Will and some work on the side of course, you can tackle anything."

She was happy, pleased with the praise and the knowledge that her teammate wasn't dead. Sakura just wanted to bask in the moment despite how her body was protesting at the moment. Sadly it was ruined by when Sasuke decided to join in, "If you're both done with you sappy moment, we still need to finish the test."

Annoyance flared within Sakura, the Uchiha was beginning to grate on her nerves, especially with how he wanted to carry on despite the temporary lose of Naruto. The dark boy didn't care about Naruto's lose aside from not being able to pass. She was about to round on him and chew him out when her legs gave out from under her. As she began to topple over, Naruto caught her; she blushed when she felt his arms wrapped around her and holding her tight. "Thank's Naruto," she mumbled as she felt herself being held up by her teammate.

"Nah, I should be thanking you for taking care of Slime for me along with my stuff. I sorry for worrying you like that; but like I said, Beni saw me hurt and took me to a place to rest." He guided her to the sealed door. "Let's get inside now, you guys really cut it close, it's the last day and you both had me worried."

"What are you talking about; we only have the Scroll of Earth!" Glancing over her shoulder, Sakura saw Sasuke whip out the scroll that they won from the Oto-nins.

Naruto gave the dark boy a flat look, and asked, "You gave up our scroll..." Sasuke reacted as if he was slapped. "Lucky us then that I had a backup and didn't mention it to you." He returned his attention back to Benitora. "You be good now and don't cause too much for Aka-obaachan." Naruto smiled as his friend gave him a mischievous grin before dashing off back into the forest. The monk waved at the tiger and she couldn't help but do the same; glad that he kept her teammate safe..

"Where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"The scroll!"

Not wanting to take it anymore, Naruto ignored the other boy and proceeded to guide Sakura into the tower. The talisman over the door was ripped in half as he pushed the doors open. Walking further into the hallways, the genin came across a poster on the wall. "I think that it's telling us to open both scrolls," Sakrua explained after reading the words on the wall. "We have to open both the srolls…" Naruto reached into his tearstained kosode; Sakura couldn't help but look away embarrassed about how she acted. "You got it from those Ame-nins right?" Naruto nodded, while ignoring the heated glare that Sasuke was giving him. Both monk and shinobi opened the scrolls and smoke began to spew out of the seal inside it.

"Toss them," Naruto shouted as he watched the scrolls burst into smoke. "It's a summoning jutsu!"

"You're," Sasuke mumbled as he looked at the figure emerging from the smoke.

"Yo," Kakashi said as he stood before his team while reading his book. "I see that you made it here, good work. Looks like you each had a rough time out there; but you surpassed my expectations for this test. I really thought that you wouldn't be here until the last day." Putting his book away he straightened up. "Congratulations, you guys just passed the second test…" He would have continued if Sakura didn't tackle him and shout his name. The kunoichi could tell that Kakashi was smiling as he affectionately ruffled her hair. "Now, now Sakura let me finish."

Sniffling as she looked up at their sensei. "I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei; it's just that we're all out of that forest," she said as she tried to wipe her tears away. "It was very… harsh out there Sensei."

"Yes it is, but like I said before, they are a good learning experience." Kakashi crouched down to eye level with Sakura; his lone eye staring into her green eyes. "It's a good experience for you because it is harsh; it pushes you." The kunoichi nodded and stepped away. "Now who is this little friend of yours?"

Blinking she had no idea what Kakashi was talking about until she felt Slime rub against the side of her head. She glanced over at Naruto who gave her a smile and a nod; seeing that she smiled as well and looked up at her sensei. "This is Slime, he's one of Naruto's friends."

"Well nice to meet you Slime," the jonin said as he patted the creature. "Welcome to Team Kakashi. Now then, before I let go further, I must explain the motto behind me. You read it right?" They nodded. "Good, this is the motto that all chunin and jonin of Konohagakure no Sato follows. See the mention of Heaven, which refers to the mind. With Earth, it is referring to your body. If you're lacking Heaven, it means to acquire knowledge and better your mind. Sasuke, you are a good example of this, you're body is strong but you have much to learn still. And you Sakura, you're not lacking in Heaven, but in Earth, so you should train hard to improve yourself. Now if you have both, then you'd be like Naruto despite his lack of ninjutsu. It's about bettering yourself if you find yourself lacking in one area or the other. If you can find a balance between the two, no mission is ever too dangerous for you." Pulling out his book once more, Kakashi turned and began to walk further into the tower. "Now let's get you guys rested a bit."

Hearing those words, the genin fell in step with Kakashi, but Sakura couldn't shake her uneasiness around Sasuke. Why she felt that way, she didn't know, but she knew that she no longer had a crush on him.

* * *

"This new suppression seal should prevent him from lashing out at you from now on," Anko heard Jhadow say as he pulled his hands back from her neck. She was sitting on a couch in the office within the tower, without her coat on to cover herself.

"Does it still hurt Anko," she heard the Hokage ask. Glancing at the older man, she couldn't help but appreciate the concern. Aside from Karasu, he has always been there for her; not as much as the old monk due to his duties, but he always showed her his support.

As she continued to rest on the couch, she put her coat back on. "I feel much better Hokage-sama. I can feel the pain reseeding."

Turning to one part of the office, she heard a snort, "It'd better because if that idiot grandson of mine couldn't do it, then I couldn't." Standing next to the window leaning against the frame, she saw Karasu as he carefully looked over the meeting. He then released a sign. "I'm sorry Anko-chan, I had…"

"Save it Old Man," she said as she stood up, stretching her arms and back, much to the amusement of the men in the room. "What we should consider is what to do about the bastard's appearance and his tampering with the exams." Looking up at the Hokage, she then continued. "He's probably…"

She never didn't to finish as the Hokage interrupted her, "I think we can assume that he was after Uchiha Sasuke. We'll proceed with the exams as planned while keeping an eye on Orochimaru's movements of course. If he did place the seal on the boy, then we'll just have to continue as planned."

She nodded, but couldn't help but say, "We should take into account of the demons he had with him…"

"And his change," Jhadow threw in his piece. "It's because of his change that the seal is far more complicated to handle then we originally believed. As much as I loath to admit it, it is a very ingenious seal, not only does it enhance the user, but it leaves a piece of the seal-caster on the target. Should he die, he'll still live on because a piece of his soul is bound to a living vessel." No matter how many times she heard these since she woke up in the medical facility with the man at her bedside, they cut her deeply. To know that a part of the bastard's soul was bound to her until either they manage to remove the seal or she dies. "What makes this worse is the fact that he is no longer wholly human from the act of consuming the demon heart. He can give as many pieces of his soul now as he wishes without consequence."

"What if something claims his soul or takes a piece of it," the Hokage asked, looking towards the two seal masters in the room.

Deciding to answer, Karasu explained, "With tainted souls, if you forcefully take a part of it, it cannot heal. It'll only recover if it is willingly given from the owner." Noting the confused looks, he looked over at his grandson.

Sighing, Jhadow continued, "Here is an example, if you happen to use the same fuininjutsu that was used to seal the Kyuubi no Yoko into Naruto, the Shiki Fujin." Everyone but both Anko and Karasu stared at the man in shock for knowing such information.

"How do you know this," Hiruzen demanded and both Genma and Raido were ready to leap into action.

"Not the first jinchuuriki that I've seen. Besides he's my cousin and I was bound to find out sooner or later." The Hokage nodded in acceptance of the answer. "Anyway, with the aide of the Shinigami, instead of sealing a soul into his bowels, you can potentially tear off a piece of the targets soul. If you tear it off, it won't recover no matter what is done because it is permanent. You're effectively scarring the soul then. However, if you give, a piece of yourself, you'll recover and can do so again."

"Those who split off pieces of their souls are generally a pain in the ass to handle, but most of them just take one piece off and stick it into a vessel of their choosing," Karasu finished. "Its part of a step towards leading to bastardized form of immortality; which is what Orochimaru is looking for. By making each person a vessel for a piece of his soul, should he die, he can still live on like a parasite."

"He must have finished that jutsu he was working on," the Hokage muttered, and Anko's eyes widened, knowing what he was talking about. "The seals are probably a means for him to abandon one body for another by conditioning them by corrupting their bodies."

"If the victim has a strong will and doesn't give into the temptations of the seal, their bodies will never be corrupted," Jhadow said with finality, bringing a small measure of comfort to the kunoichi. "If they choose to resist, they have no real issues aside from having it and having it act up now and again until it can be removed. Only the ones who bask in its use must be concerned."

Before they were able to continue with the conversation, an image appeared on one of the television in the room. "Anko-sama," Moruku said as he appeared on the screen. "The second test had just finished, and seven teams have been confirmed. In accordance with the rules governing the Chunin Selection Exams, we'll be holding a preliminary round for the third test."

"Hmm… interesting the first time in five years," Hiruzen stated as he turned to leave the room. "Come; let us go greet the examinees and our guests." Seeing the command to follow, Anko and the seal masters followed the old Hokage.

* * *

Standing before his eye, stood his three genin. He was proud of them, but the tension in Sakura had him curious. Kakashi noticed it during the little down time they had before coming to the arena within the tower, where she subconsciously tried to keep as far away from Sasuke as possible. She never did that before, and now tried to use Naruto or himself as a barrier of sorts. The girl no longer says his name with the usual honorifics. Something happened in the forest and he had no idea; when question, Sakura gave him an honest answer, or as honest as it could be because she looked confused as well. He asked Naruto, and he had no idea, they were separated from each other for a few days out in the forest, so if anything happened, he had no knowledge. As for Sasuke, he gave him one of his patented looks telling him it is none of his business.

Kakashi agreed at the time, but he could easily see how tense she was by standing right in front Sasuke. Each genin stood at attention before the Hokage and the semi-circle of jonins at his side. He stood with the jonin-senseis behind the Hokage who had both Karasu and Jhadow standing behind him on both sides.

Looking away from Naruto's family, he looked back at his students, Naruto stood in the front, happy about making it this far and having him, Anko, and his family there to see him. Sakura stood behind the young multi-class ninja and looked worse for ware. Kakashi hoped that she'd do well at this part of the Chunin Selection Exams. She was coming a long way, and was really shaping up. As for Sasuke, he stood in the back, not liking the position, he wanted to stand in the front, but Kakashi made the call for the line-up of his team and they agreed it to. Now he regretted it, if he could have gone back before the ceremony, he would have placed Sakura in the front and placed Naruto in between just to keep her at ease.

Glancing over the other genins, it came to no surprise to Kakashi that five of the seven teams ended up being from Konoha but he was surprised by having all three of the current rookie teams being there. 'They are all very talented,' he thought as he sent his colleagues a glance before looking over at the two foreign jonin in the room. He was familiar with Baki, seeing him a few times before in passing when running diplomatic missions. The jonin from Otogakure no Sato was new to him but those eyes reminded him of someone; who it was, he couldn't place it at the moment.

'You have all come a long way from the cadets…' he thought before noticing that Gai was saying something to him. "Huh? Did you say something?" Expecting an answer, Gai turned away in frustration, confusing him some more.

"Congratulations on passing the second test," Anko shouted to the genin from the Hokage's side. "Now Hokage-sama will explain about the third portion of the exam; listen up and heed his words." Most of the genin looked indifferent to the words or were excited to be there in the presence of so many elite ninja and especially the Hokage; though a few cast curious glances to the old monk and the man at his side. Watching from where he stood, he watched Anko turned towards the Hokage lower her voice. "They are all yours Hokage-sama."

The Hokage tok a step forward, "Now that the third test is about to begin, let me explain a few things about this exam. Why do you suppose an exam of this nature is being conducted by all of the nations in the alliance? 'It's to promote friendship and raise the level of standards for ninja within all nations.' However, I don't want you to be confused about the true purpose of the exams. These exams are a substitute for war…" Jhadow snorted, and drew everyone's attention. "Those in the alliance were at one time hated enemies. And as a means of ending the squandering of both ninja and resources needlessly, they have come up with the Chunin Selection Exams. There is no mistake though, that at the end of this exam, those who don't make it to the end are unfit for the title of Chunin. The exams also serve as a way of bringing honor and prestige to the homelands of those who have made it this far. It will be in this final part of the exam, that you will be watched under the careful eyes of both leaders and representatives of foreign lands. It is here that they will judge you worthy of being a Chunin, and if you have proven worthy, that you bring honor; however if you fail, you bring dishonor.

"Where one land is strong, they will flourish, and a weaker land will slowly fade away," the old man said as he continued. "It is here that you all will stake your lives on the line for not only your dreams, but for the dreams of your home. By doing so, you are showing the strength of a country which comes from its village. And the strength of its village is the strength of its ninja. Those same ninja only show their true strength in the midst of a desperate life and death battle." As Kakashi looked over the proceedings, he noticed his fellow yet sickly jonin, Gekkou Hayate step forward and kneels before the Hokage. "Hayate, they are now yours."

Nodding the sickly jonin stood and turned towards the genin. "Before we start this next part, there is something that we must do," Hayate said as he approached the genin. "With so many of you left, and with so many honored guests coming, we can't take too much time showcasing each and every one of you. So we will be holding a preliminary round before the actual third portion of the exam. It is only because of the rules governing this exam that all nations follow that we are doing this so don't be upset." During his speech, he coughed a few times as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a note board. "So anyway at this point, you will not be tested as a team but as individuals so if you wish to quit now you can and not worry about disqualifying your teammates as well. Once I take down you're names, you can leave."

From where he stood, Kakashi ignored what the others were doing, he idly took some pleasure in seeing Karasu smacking Jhadow on the back of the head, but his attention was fixed on his team. The conversation being held between Anko and Hokage about the silver haired genin didn't hold his attention; it was the dynamics of his team.

As he watched them, he noticed that Sasuke was holding his neck and was wincing now and again. Something that he was doing from time to time once they met up for at the tower. Sakura, despite the tension between her and Sasuke seemed concerned about something, but once the boy grabbed her, she froze. 'Now that is odd,' the jonin thought as he studied his students. Sasuke whispered something to the kunoichi after sending her a glare. Seeing that Sakura relented, Sasuke withdrew his hand. "I am an avenger, I have to test my strength against the best of the best," Kakashi was able to make out as Sasuke broke out of whispering; this also catches Naruto's attention. "I will not back down for anything or don't you remember what I told you about talking back at me?" Right there Sakura froze up, it was painful for the jonin to see, and he knew that something terrible happened between the two genin.

"What are you talking about Sasuke," he was able to hear Naruto ask as he gave his teammates his full attention.

Kakashi couldn't help but hate the look in Sasuke's eyes and his smirk when he spoke to Naruto. "Naruto, you're one of the ones that I want to fight." Despite the situation going on with his team, he couldn't help but chuckle at Naruto's dumbfounded posture. He knew that Sasuke viewed Naruto as a rival, and that they never truly fought before. Naruto knew this as well but never thought much of it, he never considered Sasuke as a rival. The young monk never took any sparring session seriously, even during the bell test, he was just doing. He may never have it in him to really fight Sasuke because the boy was a fellow Konoha-nin and such events should never happen.

'If they did fight each other seriously, one or both may not walk away,' Kakashi thought, barely suppressing a shudder.

"If that is all, we'll now begin the preliminaries which will consist of single matches as if this was a tournament," Hayate seeing that no one else was going to leave. Counting off the heads, Kakashi noticed that twenty remained. "We will hold ten matches to determine who advances to the next stage. The rules are is that there are no rules so anything goes here. Each pair will fight to the death or until one loses consciousness or until admits defeat. Since we don't want any unnecessary deaths on our hands, if we determine an undisputed winner, I along with my colleagues will step in and end the match. Don't count on that though." Turning to the side, he pointed towards the wall behind the statue. "From here on out, the matches will be determined by this electronic scoreboard where two random individuals will be determined. Now let's begin."

* * *

_Author's__ Note_: Wasn't where I was planning on ending it, but it went on longer then I thought. Not much of Naruto here, but I wanted to develop Sakura a bit more. Well the Preliminary Round is next, and should be interesting for. First time in at least four years since I tackled this. Should be something more acceptable then what I did in my past stories.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything that appears here at all with the sole exception being any Original Characters that appear.

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

"The winner of the first match of the Preliminary Round is Uchiha Sasuke," Hayate declared as he stood over the fallen masked genin. Sasuke sat on the concrete floor of the arena a few feet away, breathing heavily.

Looking down from the balcony, Naruto couldn't help but frown as he watched his teammate. During the fight, he noticed that his teammate executed a moves and stances that were his own, and one move used by Lee, it infuriated him to see his hard work taken with only a glance. Of course despite copying the moves, his teammate bastardized them. Seeing his mounting annoyance, his grandfather placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Do not get worked up over this Naruto." Looking up at him he could see the small smile on is grandfather's face. "Techniques, jutsus, and knowledge are bound to be passed on no matter what."

"Kakashi-han, let's go," Jhadow said once the match was over and both men stood over Sasuke in an instant. He knew why they were down there, he saw the markings of the Cursed Seal of Heaven flaring, and they were going to have it suppressed.

Once they were gone, he turned towards his pink-haired teammate and asked, "Sakura, when did Sasuke get that seal?"

She tensed and looked down, ashamed of not saying anything earlier, "After Orochimaru knocked you out…"

"Don't worry about it child," the old monk said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he crouched down. "It will be taken care of."

Naruto gave his grandfather a confused look before glancing over at Anko who stood with them. She could have stood with the Hokage but wanted to be with them to show her support. The jonin shrugged her shoulders before turning back to the next fight which was about to start. If there was one thing for sure, he knew that if she was fine with what is happening especially with that _seal_ then he should be as well.

"All right, it's time for the second match to begin," Hayate declared as he coughed. Standing in front of him was both his former classmate, Aburame Shino, and Neji's teammate, Tenten. "Are you both ready?" They nodded. "Begin!"

Watching the match below, Naruto couldn't help but notice the dark look that was being sent his way from the red-headed Suna-nin who is without a doubt the jinchuuriki he walked by the other day. Ignoring it the best he could for now, he returned his attention back to the two genin on the arena floor.

Tenten took a few steps back while waiting for Shino to make a move. He didn't, he just stood there. After a few moments, she hurled a few shuriken at the younger boy who dived out of the way of the flying blades. He couldn't stop moving though, for each the kunoichi was sending a constant barrage of flying death at him. As soon as he stopped though, a living wall of bugs appeared in front of him, taking the brunt of the current attack, yet losing sight of his opponent. It was during that brief moment that Tenten appeared behind him with a wooden staff raised.

The shinobi didn't know what hit him.

"The winner of the second match, Kuno Tenten," Hayate declared after checking on Shino. Once he was done, he waved the two medics who were on standby to carry him off.

"Aw it's over all ready," a voice from behind said. Turning around, he saw the smiling face of his cousin and the masked face of his sensei.

"Weapons girl managed to sneak a blow and did him in," Anko commented as she turned towards the men. "So how did it go?"

"It went fine, Sasuke is now being sent off to the hospital," Kakashi answered as he took a spot next to his students. "Hmm… the jonin from Otogakure no Sato isn't here."

"Like I said Kakashi-han, I was waiting on him to make his move," Jhadow said as he took a spot next to Anko.

Confused, Anko decided to ask, "What are you talking about?"

The man turned his head towards her as he let his hat hang off the back of his neck. "I'll explain later." Naruto noticed that she understood as she gave his cousin a brief yet curt nod.

Turning to the score-board, Naruto noticed that the names for the next match were up. It was Kiba and the kunoichi from Suna. Turning his attention towards Kiba who was standing a ways down on the balcony, he noticed that as he was about to leap down to the floor, the boy sent him a glare. Once again this confused Naruto because he has no idea why the boy was acting that way.

The matched didn't last long, the tag team of both boy and dog overwhelmed the older girl. Once "Gatsuga!" was shouted, it was over. Both boy and dog stood triumphant over the fallen kunoichi, and as they did, Naruto noticed that Kiba sent him a challenging glare.

Feeling a hand placed on his shoulder, he turned to see Jhadow, "That boy has a bone to pick with you." Naruto nodded. "Though that is the shittiest technique that I have ever seen; it's too straight forward and easy to counter."

"How would you counter it?"

"Smash a weapon into his face as he's flying at you!"

Dumbfounded, Naruto and the others around him couldn't help but agree. It was indeed a stupid move despite being one of the major techniques of the Inuzuka clan. Though Naruto had to wonder how no one really thought of that glaring weakness before.

Naruto kept his eyes on Kiba as he got back up on the balcony, a smirk on his face as he stood next to Hinata; close enough to make her uncomfortable. The monk knew Hinata well enough to be able to see the signs, and he didn't like it one bit. He was about to walk over there and say something when Hayate declared, "The next match is between Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee!"

Hearing his name called, and actually excited, he left shakujo with his teammate, not wanting it because he wanted to test his own skill against the older boy. It is a test of course so why not test himself. Though as he stood next to the sickly jonin, he wished that his hat wasn't splintered, it'll throw his look off, but nothing can be done about that now, besides it was a comfortable presence on his head.

Standing on the floor, he couldn't keep the smile off his face as he looked over at the eccentric boy and his equally eccentric sensei.

* * *

Kakashi couldn't help but palm himself at the matchup. He could hear both Gai and his student and it was almost too painful to listen to. "Lee, I've noticed something that others may have overlooked," Gai said as he slung his arm across Lee's shoulders and both looked intensely at Naruto. "He is a monk and that tattered hat just doesn't do for a youthful look!"

Kakashi couldn't help but feel embarrassed for them if they are only now picking up on this. "Hai Gai-sensei," he heard Lee exclaim with a salute. Yeah, it was really embarrassing and he had to wonder how his rival made it as far as he did.

"All right, go show your flames of youth!" With one more quick salute, Lee vaulted over the banister and landed on the floor near Naruto. Done with the show, Gai walked over to their group. "Kakashi, my eternal rival, it is a match between our proud students. Do you not feel the excitement coursing through your body?"

He shrugged, indifferent to the outcome if he was to be honest, "Not really, but I do expect it to be a good match to watch." He glanced at the two men who were Naruto's family. "I'm sure that with the show of support here for Naruto, that he will fight even harder then he has before."

"Lee-san may be strong," he heard Sakura say. Looking down at his favorite student, he couldn't help but feel proud of the support that she was showing for Naruto as she held onto his shakujo for safe keeping. "He may have defeated Sasuke before, but Naruto is much stronger!"

"He'll be just fine," Karasu stated as he glanced over at Gai. "Even though at times he is much like his foolish cousin who will draw out a fight if it's one he enjoys…" Jhadow blinked a few times and grinned. "He is my grandson."

"Of course Karasu-sama," Gai exclaimed with a bow. "Naruto-san is you're youthful grandson!"

Fixing his attention back to the arena, Kakashi barely picked up what Jhadow lowly muttered, "Now I really feel like an old man."

"All right, it's time for the fourth match to begin," Hayate declared. "Are you both ready?" The boys nodded. "Begin!"

As soon as those words were uttered, Naruto gave a bow, which stunned everyone in the arena save for those who knew him best. Stunned, Lee dumbly did the same. "Good luck Lee," Naruto said as he took a stance. "May the best man win." Pleased with the comment, Lee did the same, though more youthful and gave the poor boy one of Gai's patented, 'Nice guy,' poses. Kakashi couldn't prevent that shiver that went down his spine; Gai effectively turned the boy into his own clone! "Just as you predicted when you fought Sasuke that was a mismatch between the two of you. I'll say that this time around you are not mismatched against an opponent."

"Why do you say that Naruto-san," Lee asked as he took his stance.

"Cause I normally mop the floor with the bastard." With that declaration, Naruto lunged at the older boy who expertly blocked and parried his punch. In the midst of Lee's counterattack, Naruto blocked the incoming punch. Then all of a sudden, both boys went to kick the other and their legs collided; Naruto wince from the pain as Lee felt nothing. "Iron Leg technique?" The older genin shook his head with a smile, but said nothing before resuming the fight.

They remained around the middle of the floor; exchanging furious blows that narrowly missed the other. No weapons were used, only their own bodies, moving at such speeds that it seemed unreal to the rest of the genin, though Naruto was wary of blocking any and all kicks after the initial attacks. Kakashi had only seen the boy move this fast a few times before; once during the bell test and back during the mission to Wave. If he knew anything about Gai, it would be that his student is faster then he is letting on right now; however, Naruto at this point had the slight advantage in speed. It was clearly shown when he finally managed to slip through Lee's defenses and land a palm strike on the older boy's sternum.

Lee was blown back by the blow, but recovered quickly. Seeing that he was indeed matched, the older genin decided to get some distance between him and the monk. He leapt up onto the statue below the score-board, evaluating his opponent that he misjudged in his excitement; from the stands, the one-eyed jonin could see that both boys were smiling.

"Kakashi, why isn't Naruto using any ninjutsu or genjutsu," Gai asked, curious as to why his student was using only taijutsu.

He gave a shrug and answered, "Even though he is perfectly capable of using them, he just doesn't care for them much. I'm still trying to work around that."

"I see, than he won't win at this rate." Gai then turned towards Lee and gave him a thumb up. "Lee, take them off."

"But Gai-sensei, you told me to only do that for when I must protect many precious people," the young clone shouted back, confusion laced in his voice. It also caught Naruto's attention and he seemed curious to what is going on between teacher and student.

"It's all right, I'll allow it!"

Kakashi could see excitement in the young clones face as he state down on the statue and began pulling his orange leg warmers off. Once they were pulled off, Kakashi could see the weights strapped to the kid's shins. 'A bit of an old fashioned training method,' he thought as Lee put the leg warmers back on. He noticed that Naruto shook his head and mutters something about how that was the trick from before.

Done with adjusting his clothes, Lee stood up and held both weights out. "Ah that feels much better now," the genin exclaimed as he looked to be getting pumped up. "Now I can move freely!" He released the weights.

They crashed into the ground, kicking up smoke from the force of the impact. Everyone but Karasu and Jhadow were stunned from the amount of weight they had to have had to have created a two decent size impact craters. "Gramps, he really does take after me," Kakashi heard Jhadow say. "Having fun with a fight and letting it drag out like this. I'm so proud of him!"

"Yea but luckily for us that he wasn't an asshole like you were," Karasu mumbled as he kept his eye on the match, missing the prideful look that Jhadow had at that moment.

"Lee, go," Gai exclaimed just before his student vanished and reappeared behind Naruto.

The younger boy barely blocked the attack and lashed out with a punch. He met only air as Lee vanished beneath him. Naruto flipped backwards as Lee tried to catch him the same way that he caught Sasuke the previous week. Rolling back to his feet, he tried to reassess his opponent, but wasn't given time as he had to block, and dodge the blindingly fast attacks. Some of the attacks were getting past his defenses and landing hits. The attacks weren't any faster or stronger then before, but his newfound speed in movement gave him that much needed edge over Naruto's once superior speed.

Kakashi blinked and Lee smashed his foot over Naruto's head with a front flip. Seeing the damage done, Lee skipped back, smirking at his success, but it fell once seeing that Naruto remained standing; his hat finally destroyed and laying on the ground in pieces.

"Boy," Karasu shouted, catching everyone's attention. "Take off you clothes."

Everyone was stunned, none more so then Naruto who gave him an incredulous look before shouting, "What the hell Gramps!"

"Do as you're told runt," Jhadow said with a smirk which was backed up by a smirk from Anko as well. "Take off you're clothes boy take off you're clothes!"

"Strip boy," Anko exclaimed with a catcall.

He grumbled before turning back to Lee, doing his best to ignore his family. Though they knew best, and the clothes were getting in the way, so he undid his sash, dropping down to only his boxers. He shivered, it was drafty in the room, and without his clothes he was bound to feel cold. Annoyed at his family, he tossed his clothes off to the side which created their own impact crater. "What the hell," Naruto shouted as he looked at the destruction his clothes made in the floor. He gave another incredulous look at his family who were trying their best to look innocent.

"Naruto-san, that is a most youthful training method," Lee exclaimed as a fire burned in his eyes. The monk only nodded as he agreed that his entire body felt lighter, despite, though he was very uncomfortable to be the center of attention with only his boxers on. Kakashi caught him glancing towards Kurenai's student Hinata. Looking towards her he noticed that she was beat red and looked ready to faint at any moment. The masked jonin smirked as the sight; the boy was confused and worried for the girl, most likely thinking that she was sick or something. "Now let us begin!"

The older genin charged at Naruto who with vanished before his eyes. He reappeared behind Lee and connected a kick with the older boys head. Lee flew to one side of the arena and crashed into the wall, back first.

Kakashi couldn't help but wince from the sight, but he could feel Sakura's excitement for her teammate. Usually it would be directed at Sasuke, but not anymore for some reason. 'Really should look into this later,' he thought as he watched Naruto fly around Gai's student as if he was a tortoise. Glancing over at Gai, he smirked at his expression of shock that was plastered over his face. It felt great knowing that his student was now dominating the fight; though it was only a small comfort, most of this wasn't thanks to him; it was the boy's grandfather that made him this way.

Studying his fallen foe, Naruto assumed a new stance that Kakashi hasn't seen him use before, but he instantly knew that it suited his student perfectly. As if this new stance was meant just for him; he looked as if he was bursting with power at the moment.

Peeling himself off the wall, Lee took his stance and said, "Naruto-san, it has been a wonderful fight, but I shall not lose to you and I will end it with this next move!" The older genin then crossed his arms in front of him as he closed his eyes. The air was soon saturated with power as Lee's skin turned red.

"Gai, you didn't," Kakashi exclaimed as he turned to face the eccentric jonin. "You taught him how to open the gates!" The man nodded. "How many can he open?"

"Looks like five," Jhadow answered offhandedly for the other man. "This is interesting but it won't be enough to stop a kid who is so much like me."

Shocked at the casual dismissal of his student's abilities, Gai rounded on the older man. "What makes you think that he will win," Gai asked as he glared at the man.

The man shrugged. "He has the _right stuff_. He won't fall here just because your student opened the gates doesn't mean that it'll help him. Right now he is barely keeping up with the kid." He was right, they two boys were flying around the arena, barely even blurs as they moved and when they clashed, it was as if it was thunder.

"This is almost as if it was a fight between jonin," Anko lowly mumbled as she watched on, in awe of the level of the two boys fighting. Kakashi nodded, but he knew deep down that if Sasuke had the chance to watch this, the boy would become angered over the vast gulf between him and his teammate. This fight however reminded him one of the _few_ matches that he and Gai shared; it was like watching them going at it.

Thunder boomed, and all eyes were drawn to the middle of the floor. Naruto was in the air with his foot connected to Lee's head. Time seemed to freeze at that moment before speeding up again as the older boy flew into a wall with his back first. His skin lost its redness as he fell unconscious with a smile upon his lips.

Naruto didn't drop his stance until Hayate declared him the winner. Once he was declared the winner he jumped high into the air, high enough where he smashed his skull against the ceiling. He came back down cradling his head muttering curses before losing consciousness.

Chuckling, Kakashi leapt down to the floor and carried his student back. "Looks like the Kid had fun," Anko commented as she Kakashi sat him down against the wall. Naruto's clothes were left for Jhadow to bring back; he feared attempting to lift them. Thinking back on his clothes, they were probably the reason why no one was ever able to throw him, it was because he was weighed down by an absurd amount.

Kakashi nodded as he watched his student, pleased at winning. He could just imagine shoving this in Gai's face later. Sure he'll freely admit that most of Naruto's training was done by Karasu, but just rubbing this in the green-clad jonin's face is too much of an opportunity to not take advantage of. Hell, he could say that at this point, he has more students going to the finals and not him. Oh that would be a blow to their rivalry.

The moment he was about to make some _cool hip_ comment for Gai to rant about, Hayate called for both his last student and the girl on Asuma's team.

* * *

Sakura had no idea as to how she should feel once she saw the screen. On one hand she was happy to have a chance to face her rival, but on the other hand, she couldn't help but wish that they were friends once more. It would help her sort out her feelings for the Uchiha which have become mixed over the past few days. Deep down she felt something change, she knew that some part of her feared the boy and it stems from the moment where he decided to carry on by having a clone impersonate Naruto. She couldn't tell anyone earlier because the boy was there, but she could do so now yet she couldn't bring herself to do so.

Calmly walking out to the floor after handing Naruto's shakujo over to Karasu, she stood before her blonde haired, purple clad rival. Ino's eyes burned with determination, "So Sakura, it's you and me now. I'd never thought that I'd be fighting you."

Hearing those words, Sakura reached up to her hitae-ate and pulled it loose, "Know this Ino, I'm not going to fight with you over Sasuke and the last thing that I'd do would be letting you near him!" She saw Ino flinch and she was inwardly pleased by the reaction. The pink haired kunoichi was true to her words though; she would never let her be near the Uchiha ever again if she could help it to prevent her from seeing the darker side of the boy. After his casual dismissal of Naruto's _death_, he was determined to continue; it was by pure chance that they actually met up with the monk once again that allowed them to finish the last test. "You're not his type." Sakura can see the fury building in her rival. "Besides, I'm a ninja of Konoha, participating in the Chunin Selection Exams; we're all here to prove ourselves as ninjas, not as a pair of dogs fighting over a piece of meat." As she tied her hitae-ate around her forehead, she heard Kiba's shout of indignation.

"So that's how it's going to be then," Ino stated, her fury building as she too, placed her hitae-ate around her forehead.

"Are you both ready now," the examiner asked as he eyed both kunoichi, obviously annoyed with the pre-battle conversation. Seeing them nod, he allowed the match to begin.

Once those words were said, both kunoichi flew at each other, Ino with her fist raised, while Sakura made a seal with her hands. Channeling her chakra, two bunshins appeared with her; running towards her rival. "This isn't the academy, you can't beat me with such basic moves," Ino shouted right before the real Sakura appeared before her in the blink of an eye. The blonde kunoichi didn't know what hit her as she flew back a couple of feet.

* * *

Kakashi couldn't help but be pleased with his student. It was quite an ingenious ploy on her part by getting the Yamanaka to take her seriously; but it worried him to hear the conviction in her words about keeping the girl away from Sasuke. If there were signs before, that was the final straw to see what was going on. Seeing her use of the basic illusionary clones and her skill in chakra manipulation in action brought a smile to his face.

"Oh she is a talented firecracker," he heard Jhadow comment. Glancing over to the man, he saw him cupping his chin with one hand as he studied his student. "I wonder how she will fair against her opponent; especially with her injuries."

Turning back to the furious exchange of blows, Kakashi winced at the sight of the lucky blow that slipped past Sakura's defenses. The girl stumbled but remained standing. "She will win, she has a heart that cannot bear to be beaten," the jonin stated, his belief in his student was absolute. He trained her, instructed her, watched her grow in the few months that they knew each other. Like Lee was Gai's star pupil, Sakura was his, and she had his unwavering support. Seeing her fight furiously like this made his heart swill with pride.

"That fighting spirit of hers will carry her on," Jhadow agreed. "However how long will she last; you're team was the last to arrive and she seemed worse for wear. I have no doubt that a single good blow to her head will end this for good, and if not, she will likely fall after the match ends."

The jonin bristled at the assessment of his student but he couldn't deny it, he could see the signs as well. As good as he worked her; there is no denying how draining the last test was on the girl.

As the fight dragged on, Kakashi became worried, despite her best to look strong; he could tell that she was almost running on fumes. His worries grew when his student taunted the other girl once more and the girl snapped; cutting off her long pony-tail and throwing it in the air around them to prove a point.

"What is she doing," Jhadow asked, seeing that Ino was preparing a jutsus while aiming for Sakura who stood still.

"It's the Shintenshin," he answered as he turned to face the man who looked very amused by the match so far. "What it does is that it allows the user to take over another person's body by sending out a bolt of mental energy…"

"And supplanting the target's psyche," the man interrupted as he understood where Kakashi was driving at.

The jonin nodded. "However if she misses, she will be vulnerable for a few minutes as her projection slowly returns back to her." The man nodded, seeing how that is a drawback to the jutsu.

"Ninpo: Shintenshin no jutsu," the girl cried as she fired her jutsu as Sakura who moved to dodge; her body soon fell limp.

"Looks like you lose Ino," Sakura said as she began to approach her rival, but soon stopped after feeling something constricting her legs. "What the…"

"Got ya Sakura," her rival exclaimed while looking up. Her hands were on the ground, and around a length of hair that twisted itself around Sakura's legs. "You fell for my trap, and now I got you!"

"She must be running on fumes now to not be doing trying to move now," Jhadow commented as Ino rose and kept channeling chakra through her hair on the floor. "She could run forward and attack her." Kakashi nodded, dread attempting to take hold within him but he crushed it before it took root. This is a test, not a real life or death situation, win or lose, he's proud of his student lasting as long as she did in this fight.

As Ino fell limp once more, Kakashi noticed the confused look on his student as she blinked a few times. Trying to understand what just happened as she looked herself over and was able to move again. Seeing her good fortune, she idly scratched her stomach as something seemed to irritate her. Pulling out a kunai, she held it next to Ino's neck. After this move, Hayate declared her the winner just a moment before Ino regained consciousness.

"What the hell," she shouted in outrage just as Sakura lost consciousness from being pushed well past her limits. "What the hell happened?" Kakashi ignored the girl as he picked up his student, and smiled. He knew how she won in the end, and knew that in the world of ninjas, anything and everything is a ninja tool.

Kakashi couldn't help but be pleased, all three of his students advanced to the next stage of the Chunin Selection Exams. 'Only problem now would be training them all,' he thought with a sign as he set the kunoichi down against the wall next to Naruto. 'With Orochimaru's interest in Sasuke, I'm going to have to isolate him from the rest. I'm sure that Karasu-sama will take care of Naruto, but what about Sakura, who can I entrust her with to be sure she gets the most of this next month!'

"She did good Kakashi-han, she did good," Jhadow commented as he stood behind the jonin who nodded in return.

* * *

Naruto groaned, his head was throbbing with pain. The light blinding him, and he felt a bit chilly. "Glad to see that you've returned to the land of the living," he heard a voice say. Blinking his eyes a few times to get used to the light, he saw the smiling face of his grandfather.

"How'd I do," he asked getting up, as he did, he noticed that they draped his kosode over him. It fell to the ground with a thud.

"You kicked his ass Kid," Anko stated as she turned away from the current fight: Chouji and the masked Oto-nin he noted. "And to add insult to injury, you were half-naked to boot!"

He blushed remembering that before angrily rounding on his grandfather. "Why the hell are my clothes weighted!"

The old monk brushed his anger off like it was nothing, "It was all a part of you're training." The old man then smirked down at Naruto with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Besides, it was fun seeing both yours and everyone else's reaction to the weighted clothes. Poor Hinata-chan looked ready to faint, and Sakura-chan there was so embarrassed that she was sputtering left and right." The old monk pointed behind the boy, following the finger, he saw Sakura battered and beaten, resting against the wall with Slime in her lap.

Staring down at his sleeping teammate, he couldn't help but ask, "Did she win?"

"She did." Karasu nodded before pointing down towards where Team Asuma was standing. "She did a number on her, but if Sakura-chan wasn't so banged up to begin with, she would be standing right now."

"Though she did get lucky having Slime on her at the time," Kakashi commented as he turned away from the fight. "Ino tried to possess her after snaring her leg with an improvised rope made from her own hair. She failed once she took over Slime. Lucky for Sakura, she lasted long enough to be declared the winner before exhaustion caught up with her."

"Run Kid run," Naruto's cousin shouted as he looked down at the fight, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Chouji rolling around the floor as a massive boulder trying to squash the Oto-nin. "This is such a one-sided fight."

"Well Sakura did ruin his gauntlet back in the forest," Kakashi stated. "She had Naruto's shakujo at the time and smashed it back when they attacked her." Naruto nodded, remembering that Sakura told them that during the few hours before the ceremony; though Sasuke just seemed to scoff at that, not at all pleased with her accomplishment.

"Yea and that makes this match more of a game of cat and mouse then anything else. Look, that Chouji kid almost had him just now. If he isn't careful, the kid will be a pancake."

Naruto nodded as he placed his clothes back on. 'That will be the last time I strip during a fight,' he thought with a grimace. It was way too embarrassing doing that, and the look that Hinata sent his way worried him. 'She must be feeling faint once again. Yeah that must be it; she's been prone to do that for quite some time now!' Sadly, even though his Karasu praises him as being just like Jhadow, his grandfather would be the first to admit that even though Naruto isn't an asshole that his cousin once was, that the boy was dense; though Naruto is oblivious to these thoughts of course and just thinks that his best friend has some kind of condition.

As soon as he finished, Hayate shouted, "The winner of the eighth match of the preliminary round is Akimichi Chouji!" Glancing over the side of the banister, Naruto winced at the sight of the Oto-nin; he was still alive but had to be hurting very badly, he had to be if Chouji rolled over him like a rolling pin. "The next match is Hyuuga Hinata against Hyuuga Neji." Naruto froze as fear tugged at his heart. He glanced to the side where Neji stood and saw the gleeful smirk on his face,

"This is not good," he muttered as he sent his best friend a worried glance. She saw it and returned it as well. He knew that she was nervous, and he also knew that this was the moment that the older boy was waiting for all these years. It was here that he could finally take out his anger on Hinata for being the root cause of his father's death. It was wrong and horribly misplaced, but no matter what anyone said, the boy was fixated on both fate and that one moment. Naruto sent her an encouraging look, she looked grateful for it as she made her way to the middle of the floor where Neji was already waiting.

"Family fighting family," Jhadow commented from the side. "I hate seeing these kinds of fights, even if they are part of arranged matches. Hmm… the boy looks ready to kill the girl…"

"He has much hatred in him," Karasu stated as he too looked on worried for Hinata. "Their home is divided and the side he is part of is the servants while Hinata is the heiress. His role in the family is to serve and protect her, but he doesn't like it, hasn't since the day his father died."

"It's clan politics really," Anko added from Jhadow's side. "The division was done in order to preserve the family line and the purity of their blood."

Naruto looked up at his cousin and the jonin and saw the man shake his head, "They are a family that practices inbreeding. That will only hurt them in the long run."

"Yes but if their blood thins out then the Byakugan would be lost." Jhadow shook his head seeing no point in arguing this.

"Hinata-chan will be all right," the boy said, his gripe on the banister tightening. "She's strong!"

He felt a hand placed on his shoulder and saw his grandfather looking down at him. "There is no doubt that she is strong, it's just her will to fight the boy," the old monk said, voicing their concerns for the girl. "She is too kind."

Down on the floor, Neji spoke, barely hiding his glee, "I never dreamed that we'd find ourselves fighting each other Hinata-sama."

"Neji-niisan," Hinata quietly said as she stared at her cousin, concern showing through her pale eyes.

"Before we begin, there's something that I'd like to say something Hinata-sama. You're not fit to be a ninja. Quit now, no one will think less of you. You hate fighting, you're too kind, and you follow others easily. You joined only to allow your teammates to have the chance to be promoted!"

"No…" Hinata quietly said as she looked away from Neji. "You're wrong; I wanted to come…" She glanced towards Naruto. "I wanted to be here, to prove that I'm a strong kunoichi!"

"You're wrong; you are nothing more then the spoiled brat of the main house. You're weak; you lost to Hanabi-sama when you both fought." Naruto knew that Hinata lost to the younger girl, who is very talented, but Hinata didn't give it her all because she didn't want to hurt her _seven_ year old sister. "Right now you're lying about being here. My eyes can tell me that you're not here to prove yourself. You're here to prove your strength, and see if you can match others is hopeless. People cannot change themselves; they are bound to their fates!"

"Oh Boss, will this kid shut up now before I kill him," Jhadow muttered as he held his head. It was frustrating to watch as Hinata began to back down from the boy.

"Shut the hell up," Naruto roared, anger coursing through his body as he watched the psychological assault on his best friend. "Hinata-chan, don't let the bastard get to you! Kick his ass and show him what you're made of!" She looked up at him and he saw determination that began to burn within her lavender eyes. "Make him eat his words Hinata-chan!" Hinata gave him a nod that he returned.

Slipping into her fighting stance, Hinata said, "Neji-niisan, lets fight!" He agreed and matched her stance.

"This will be a rough fight," Karasu said with a sign. "For both to use the Hyuuga Juken style of taijutsu, this will be rough."

"Hyuuga Juken," Jhadow questioningly asked, curious about the style. "It is a _gentle_ style is it not?"

Naruto nodded and decided to answer his cousin, "Yes it is, but unlike our style or Lee's style, their style revolves around crippling the inner-workings of the body by channeling chakra through their blows. A mere tap or glance could prove fatal, especially with their doujutsu, the Byakugan which allows them to easily target those places."

The man scoffed at that last assessment and threw in his own piece. "Anyone can use it, they don't need the doujutsu to do so; they just need to know _where_ to hit for it to work. Those the field of vision that the doujutsu offers is the real strength." Naruto was stunned by the response as he took his eyes away from the deadly yet beautiful dance performed by the Hyuuga cousins. "All a person as to do is learn how and they can do so. Being able to see just gives a slight edge but it isn't necessary." Nodding quickly, Naruto fixed his attention back to the floor.

His heart clenched at the sight before him; Neji blocked Hinata's strike and landed a palm strike on her chest. Blood erupted from the kunoichi's lips before she lashed out once more once to have him block the strike and strike back at the offending arm. Seeing that she wasn't going to strike back anytime soon, Neji pushed Hinata's sleeve back, showing red welts along her arm. Panic struck home at the look on Hinata's face. "No way, he can see the tenketsu," the young monk quietly said, fearful for his best friend. "He has control of the fight!" He winced at the pain that the kunoichi must be feeling, especially after receiving another palm strike which sent her falling back a few feet. The young monk couldn't hear anything at this; any words spoken went unheard to his ears.

He watched as Hinata struggled to her feet, struggling with himself to not protect her from what was unfolding before his eyes. She lost the ability to channel her chakra, and Neji was dodging her attacks like a professional dancer. It wasn't long before Neji stood next to Hinata with his palm buried into her chest. Dread filled the young monk's being as the older boy stepped back and allowed Hinata to fall face first into the ground. Time seemed to slow down for the young monk as Hinata struggled to her feet, defying the expectations of both Neji and the examiner who thought she was done for good.

"She is a fighter," Karasu solemnly said as he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Her Will is strong though she can barely stand; those blows did a number on her."

"Hinata-sama, you cannot deny destiny anymore," Neji said as he turned to face her. "From birth, you've been burdened with the responsibility of the Clan. You are too weak, quietly accept you're fate and you need not suffer anymore!"

Coughing up blood, Hinata said, "You're wrong Neji-niisan. I can see that it is not I who is suffering; it is you who has been suffering. Being caught between the tensions of both branches of the clan, it's the source of your suffering."

Naruto had no idea of what happened next, one moment Hinata was calmly talking to Neji and then the older Hyuuga snapped. Before he could realize what had happened, his sensei along with both Hinata's and Lee's were restraining Neji.

"Enough Neji," Gai exclaimed as he restrained Neji's body. "You swore to me that you wouldn't drag the issues with your clan into this! This is not the place to be doing so!"

"Then why did the other jonin get involved as well," the shinobi growled as he felt both arms restrained by Kakashi and Kurenai. There was nothing he could do, especially with the examiner standing before him. "More special treatment for the main house?" The jonin ignored him, turning their attention away from the boy for the girl behind them as she fell to her knees and began coughing up more blood.

Seeing his best friend on the ground, Naruto vaulted over the balcony and sped towards her. He had no idea on what to do, his best friend was injured and there was nothing he could do about it. All he did was kneel over her as her eyes slowly closed.

"Naruto, here are some words of advice," Neji stated once he was released. "A true warrior doesn't cheer for others…" Anger began to form in Naruto's body from the words. "Also, in the end, a loser is always a loser no matter what they seem to accomplish."

Something inside of Naruto seemed to snap as he stood up and faced him. "You wanna see what I can do," Naruto asked, a low dangerous tone as his anger began surge. He saw Neji scoff at his words, and hearing them set him off, but before he made it half way to the boy, his cousin blurred in front of him.

"Take it easy there Kid," his cousin said as he held the genin back. "As deserving as the brat is of a_ beating_…" Naruto smirked at seeing Neji bristle from the comment. "Giving him one now when he's not you're set opponent is not wise. You are in the middle of a test, and they have rules. Do you understand me?" He nodded, seeing the logic behind that, but it didn't make him feel any better.

"Neji, we both know that Hinata-chan could have killed you with only a single seal, but she was too kind to do that to you her own cousin that wanted to kill her." As much as he didn't like it either, he nearly missed the medics carry Hinata out of the room. Going back to where she was, he bent down and brushed some of her blood into his hand and held his fist out at the older boy. "I swear on her blood that I will give you the _beating _of a lifetime," the boy declared with barely restrained fury as Hinata's blood dripped from his hand. Once he was done, he went back to where his grandfather stood and waited for the next match to begin, not meeting the eyes of anyone at all.

* * *

Hiruzen couldn't help but feel pride for the young genin who stood before him. All nine of them were advancing to the next round. Of course the Uchiha wasn't there at the moment, but he did idly note that eight of the ones advancing were from Konohagakure, and two of them were from Sunagakure. He was saddened by the sight of seeing the jinchuuriki of Sunagakure slay the last boy from Otagakure, but that was part the life of a ninja. Death surrounds them, and it'll happen at any moment if you're not prepared.

"Now I shall begin explaining the finals," he began with a smile. "As I said before, you will be performing in front of an audience where you will be representing your lands before them. It is these people who you will be exhibiting you're skills for in a month. We're not doing it now because we need to prepare for the gathering, it is a big event of course and we'll need to send out the results of the first two parts of the exam to the participating countries. Though this also gives you all the opportunity of improve yourselves and understand what your enemies are capable of. Even though you were all going in blind in the battles that have already occurred, you will actually know who your opponent is when we reconvene." He turned towards Anko who was holding a box. "I'd send you off now, but there is just one last thing that we need to take care of. Anko, will you be a dear?"

"Hai Hokage-sama," she said with a strained smile. The old man had to stifle his chuckle to not further tamper with her temper; however that didn't stop Karasu's eldest grandson from doing so. He smirked at the sight of the annoyed glare that she sent him and the amused expression he sent back in return. "Okay you runts, I have a box with slips of paper in it. You are only to take one. I'll be coming to each of you so don't worry about anything at all."

Once each genin had a number, Hiruzen said, "Starting with the left, what number do you have written on your slip?"

"Nine," Kankurou, the puppet user from Sunagakure, said as he held up his slip.

"Eight," the Shikamaru, the lazy shinobi of Team Asuma said.

"Six," Sakura stated."

"One," Naruto answered.

"Three," Gaara, the jinchuuriki from Sunagakure simply stated.

"Two," Neji said.

"Five," Tenten said.

"Ten," Chouji stated, a bit confused about the proceedings.

"Seven," Kiba growled out as he eyed both Neji and Naruto.

"So number four would be Uchiha Sasuke," Ibiki stated as he wrote in a pad.

Nodding, Hiruzen turned his attention back to the genin. "Now with the matches you just fought in were set up as if you were in a tournament, the finals are actually a one." He hid his amusement from the shocked reactions of the genin before him; he enjoyed seeing it. "Ibiki, will you show them the pairings?" The man agreed and showed them the matches. The old Hokage became a bit worried from seeing the pleased expressions on both Naruto and Neji but had to let it go. "Even though I said that this is a tournament and there is only one winner, don't think that only one of you will become a chunin, which would be rather silly. Think of the advancing further in the finals as a means of having more chances to show of your skills and to prove your worthiness of bearing the rank of chunin. With this in mind, you all may or may not be promoted; you'll just have to prove yourselves. Now then, you are all dismissed until we meet again in one month from now."

Hearing the dismissal; most left the tower, but none were as quick as Naruto. He was on a mission to see his best friend in the hospital and nothing was going to stop him. The only ones who remained behind with the Hokage were Anko, Kakashi, and Naruto's family. "Hokage-sama, what are we to do about the Uchiha," the kunoichi asked, concerned about the boy.

Thoughtful, the Hokage turned towards the shinobi, "What do you think Kakashi?"

At attention, the man took a few moments to consider the options before sighing. "Orochimaru made an appearance just after Jhadow-san sealed the mark." Anko stiffened from that and cast a furious glance at Naruto's cousin. "He made it known that he is looking for Sasuke for his doujutsu." Hiruzen nodded, seeing that his thoughts were proven true much to his dismay. "Keeping Sasuke in the public eye would be a poor idea with Orochimaru and his agents floating about."

Nodding some more, the Hokage turned towards his friend. "With his access to demons what are you're suggestions in stopping them?"

The old monk scratched the back of his head and took a few moments as well to answer. "The two demons are part of a group known as the Kimon Devils. They've been causing some trouble here and there, but nothing too worrisome before now. Among the different groups, they are rather small in both size and power, he may have recruited them but if he did then we are looking at six more. They aren't anything like a Bijuu, so you're ANBU could handle them if they do appear. The trick however is finding them, with the aid of Orochimaru they could be lurking anywhere."

"Don't forget that he controls Otogakure no Sato," Jhadow added. "With a village under his direct command, what he can and cannot do shouldn't be second guessed. He has more then demons under his belt."

"But the question is how did he manage to get the demons to work for him," Hiruzen asked, trying to guide the conversation to help build and understanding of what his former pupil had been up to.

Both Karasu and Jhadow sighed before sharing a look. "There are as many ways to get the aid of a demon just as there are ways to hire a ninja. It just seems unreal because of the nature of demons," the old monk explained.

"Is there any way to cut off his demonic allies?"

This time Jhadow scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Unfortunately there isn't a set way; they are Children of Chaos after all. Measures can be taken, but these measures can also be countered. You're best bet is to face them head on."

"Can we ask help from the Order," Kakashi asked this time, wanting have a few of his own thoughts answered.

Karasu shook his head, "The head of the Order, Sojobo won't allow the Order to get involved with open conflict; if he did then that is asking for trouble all over the continent."

Hiruzen nodded, knowing that would have been an issue. "What about you're presence here?"

"Hiruzen-dono, Konohagakure no Sato is both my home and the home of my grandson. For all intents and purposes I'd be operating on my own. Though we might be able to recruit the monks from the Fire Temple; they are technically former ninja who have a basic understanding of the more esoteric arts…"

Nodding, the Hokage knew where he was going with this, "Since they are former ninja and live within the Fire Country, we can get them to aid us in our time of need."

"What threatens Konohagakure threatens them as well," Kakashi added. "The power of the country is the power of its village and without its village, they country will likely fall."

"Yes but now what are we to do about you're team Kakashi," Hiruzen asked, seeing that portion of the conversation ending. "As you said before, we need to isolate Sasuke and keep him out of sight. I know that with all three of your students advancing to the finals, you'd like to train them all…"

"But I won't be able to prepare them all that much unless I give them specific individual training, especially with what I've seen from both Sakura and Sasuke today." The shinobi sighed. "As much as I don't like it, I am the most qualified to both train and protect him. I don't know what to do with both Naruto and Sakura though. Karasu-sama, Naruto, as we saw is a very strong boy and all he really could use is some ninjutsu and experience. For his training, he needs someone can help him in those areas most." Hiruzen nodded, already knowing this. "I really don't know what to do with Sakura; her training is the most crucial of all three."

"You don't have to worry about Naruto's training, his godfather will take care of that," Karasu answer much to Kakashi's surprise.

"Jiraiya will take care of the boy Kakashi," Hiruzen answered. "Both he and Karasu-dono came to an agreement for when the boy finally became a ninja; he would take him on as an apprentice in the ninja arts. The arrangement was for him to be trained on the side outside of your team. With how busy Jiraiya is, taking him on as part of a full-time apprenticeship would have been detrimental for the boy. Right now my student is most likely at the Hot Springs. I'll send for him once we get back to the village, but the real question now is the girl."

After a few moments of contemplative silence, Jhadow decided to break it, "How about I train the girl for the month. It'll give me something else to do here besides working on the Cursed Seal of Heaven for Anko-chan."

"Not that I'm dismissing you or anything Jhadow-san, but I just can't let you handle her training," Kakashi said, thankful that the man volunteered but he knew next to nothing about him.

"Are you experienced in teaching," Hiruzen asked, wanting to know the abilities of the man before him.

Jhadow nodded, "I have, and my first student was a young girl who was a bit younger then Sakura when I dragged her off the streets."

"Ah Neko-chan, such a nice young girl," Karasu said with a nostalgic sigh. "She turned out just fine with you after having you as her master for so many years. Hiruzen-dono, you have my word that he will do right with Sakura for the coming month."

"Than what about you're arrangement with Anko," the old Hokage couldn't help but ask, knowing what the man was doing as well.

Jhadow looked over at Anko who seemed indifferent with the proceedings. "It's not that big of a deal really." The kunoichi flinched. "It would keep me busier but not enough to prevent me from our arrangement. Besides, we're neighbors!" He finished with a grin as he slung an arm across the kunoichi's shoulders. Something he shouldn't have done, much to Hiruzen's amusement when a kunai flashed into Anko's waiting hands and aimed for one of the man's kidneys. "Anyway… you have my word that I will make the girl worthy of being promoted."

"What about Anko." The old Hokage could barely contain his mirth at the expressions on both the man and woman.

"I already gave her my word, so there are no worries there."

Nodding, Hiruzen turned back to Kakashi who seemed annoyed with the situation. "Kakashi, I know that this isn't what you may have liked, but like we already discussed, it'll fit within the situation we're facing." The jonin nodded, knowing that he was right and that as the Hokage, his word was law. "Now then, Karasu-dono, before we head back to town, I have to know. With Naruto being your grandson and wishing to join the Order, should we expect any visitors from the Order itself?"

The old monk took a few moments before answering. "He isn't pledged, but as my grandson, it would be expected of him to become one, so a representative other then I may come. We'll have to wait and see about this one though."

"I see." Hiruzen nodded before turning away. "Come, let us leave, there is much to be done in the coming weeks, and those kids will need some help of course."

* * *

It was getting late, Naruto had no idea as to how long he sat there, and he just knew that it was a while. The sterile room, the beeping of the machines, and the prone form of his best friend lying on the bed before him with devices hooked up to her; it made him feel small, insignificant. It made him question his strength; but he knew that was a fruitless question to consider. He knew that the circumstances were just right for Neji to do this to Hinata, and he knew that there will be hell to pay for what he did to her. Each time his mind wandered to the boy, he would quiver with barely restrained anger, he wanted to brutally beat him, to destroy him; but before these thoughts went any further, he calmed himself down. As much as he wanted to continue those thoughts, they were dangerous; they reminded him of what happened back in the Wave Country.

Those thoughts of the Bijuu within him escaping were what kept him under control for the most part; he wished to not have it run free to cause death and destruction with all that hatred that it holds within. He has to control these emotions of his soon, even though his grandfather said that it would take years to control them; he needs to learn to control the Bijuu in him to better protect everyone, especially Hinata, from its wrath.

Looking down at his lap, he smiled at the sleeping face of Slime. As he was leaving the tower earlier, Sakura handed the little creature off to him. He knew that Sakura was reluctant to hand him over; she developed an attachment to him during the time that he was separated from the group, and he was grateful that she took care of him. When he woke up with Benitora in his face, he panicked at first; who wouldn't with the first sight upon waking would be a massive tiger. He had no idea as to what happened to his team, but he knew that he was in good… paws with Benitora tending to him. Even if it wasn't discussed, he figured that if they made it, his teammates would show up at the tower and they did. If they didn't then they would have failed the test or something bad had happen to them.

It was a pure luck that they met up when they did after the few nights he spent around it with Benitora at his side. No one wanted to get near them, especially with the massive form of his friend near him.

"How is she," the familiar voice of his grandfather startled him from his thoughts. Turning to face him, he saw the solemn look on the elderly man's face before turning back to Hinata.

"The doctors say that she'll be fine, but it was a very close call," the boy explained, his fists clenching from the memory. "What Neji did was uncalled for, even if it was part of the Chunin Exam!"

The old man nodded. "Come; let us go home, your Uncle is expecting us."

Getting up, Naruto took Hinata's hand and promised that he will return to see her again before leaving the room with his grandfather. Before he crossed over the threshold, he gave Hinata one more look. "Gramps, is he really my uncle?"

"Not by blood, but he knew your mother very well," the old monk explained as they walked out of the hospital.

"How come he'll be training me instead of Kakashi-sensei?" Karasu explained the situation going on with Sasuke and how his sensei had to be pulled off for his own protection for the time being.

"Besides, Jiraiya-dono is a fine teacher, he did teach the Yondaime Hokage, and was a student of Hiruzen-dono. Too be truthful as well, Kakashi openly admitted that I did too good of a job with you." Glancing at his grandfather, Naruto could see the mischievous smile in the twilight. "He says that the only things that you need to work on really are jutsus and to get some experience which Jiraiya-dono will be able to do for you easily."

"So I'll be learning some tricks? Think that Jhadow-niisan can show me some stuff too?" Karasu nodded on both counts. "Well let's get the show on the road. I want to really give Neji the _beating _of a lifetime for what he did!" Oh how he can hardly wait to pay back the Hyuuga a thousand fold for what he did to Hinata. What the boy did to Hinata will look like a walk in the park after he's done with him. No one and he means no one hurts his best friend like that and gets away with it.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer:** I do not own either Naruto or Dragon Quest, they are the rightful properties of both Masashi Kishimoto and Square-Enix.

Authors Note: Sorry for the lateness of the chapter, but I hit a block. So many things I wanted to do with this yet at the same time so many things that I didn't want to do. Expect more in the next chapter.

Oh, also I'm not normally not one for addressing reviews, but I feel that I have to right now. I don't mind reviews at all if they are at least constructive criticism; but when they just outright say that the story sucks when they don't give it at least a shot, that's when I get annoyed.

Anyway, enough, you all want to read the story, so without further ado, go ahead and read.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

He had no idea what was going on, but Naruto knew that this moment was intense. Kneeling in the main hall before two older men, one his grandfather; the other was an eccentric older man with long red hair and a flamboyant outfit. He knew the man well enough to know that he is Jiraiya, or as he so affectionately calls him, Pervy Sage. It was intense being under the gazes of both men; he felt like squirming but had to fight that down. It was like they were picking him apart, gauging him for something to see if he was ready.

"Naruto, as you already know, Jiraiya-dono will be taking you under his wing for the next month," Karasu explained catching the boy's attention. "We both knew that this day would come sooner or later, but when you were a hatchling, we came to an agreement." The monk looked over at Jiraiya who nodded.

Turning to Naruto, Jiraiya continued, "The agreement was that once you became an official ninja, that you would become my apprentice…" Naruto wanted to say something but was silenced by the look that his grandfather gave him. "This would have no effect on your team whatsoever. It's really just me being a selfish old man who wants to give his godson some extra training on the side. Before we begin however, there is something that you must do; a test if you will, to see if you are truly prepared for my teachings. I know that Karasu-dono has taught you much over the years and know that you are quite skilled, but this test will see just how well you can put those skills into action. You accomplish this; I will make you worthy of that promotion."

Straightening up, Naruto couldn't help but ask, "What must I do?" He soon regretted those words upon seeing the mischievous looks on both faces of the older men.

* * *

Sakura had no idea what to feel, she was only following the instructions that her sensei gave her that morning after apologizing for not being able to train her this month. Oh she understood why, especially after that man, Orochimaru attacked then and left Sasuke that mark on his neck. What she can't understand though was why he sent her to the crazy kunoichi who administered the second test in at the forest!

"What do you want brat," Anko asked, and Sakura couldn't help but squirm under the jonin's glare. Studying the disgruntled appearance of the jonin; she couldn't help but note that the older woman just woke up if the black tank-top and dark blue sleep pants were of any indication alongside of an annoyed glare.

"I'm sorry Anko-sensei, but Kakashi-sensei told me that I would find the person who was to be my sensei for the month here," the genin stammered out as she gave her a low bow. She froze stiff when she heard the jonin click her tongue. "I'm sorry; he told me that I would find my sensei here!"

"Did Kakashi tell you who it is?"

Straightening up, she shook her head. "No just that I would find my arranged sensei here."

She flinched when she saw palmed the jonin face-palm herself. "Lucky for you I was there for when it was arranged," Anko said as she stepped out of her apartment and beckoned Sakura to follow her.

"Who is it?"

"You'll see in a moment," Anko nearly growled out, telling the genin that she was still quite visibly upset over waking up. They took a few steps down the hall before stopping at the apartment directly next to the jonin's. Blinking a few times, she couldn't help but feel stupid for walking past this one but she was told to go to the apartment that had the older kunoichi in it. Watching the jonin intently, Sakura felt a bit uneasy from the scowl marring the older woman's face. She nearly jumped away after the jonin began banging on the door. "Hey Asshole, get up!" Hearing no response, she banged on it a few more times and called out.

"Maybe they're not home," the genin suggested, only flinching when the jonin directed her eyes back to her.

Turning back to the door, she moved her hand over the knob, "The Asshole is home." The door then opened for them and Anko stepped in, surprising Sakura. Looking back, Sakura was sure that the jonin saw her stunned appearance by judging from the confused look on the woman's face. "What?"

"You just picked his lock!"

The jonin gave the genin another annoyed glare before pointing to herself, "I'm a ninja!" After that she walked further into the apartment, calling the man out once more. Sakura heard some kind of grumbled reply coming from what she could assume was the bedroom in the back of the apartment. "Get you're ass out here and meet you're student!" To surprise Sakura even more, the older woman grabbed a book off of a shelf and plopped down on the couch.

She was so shocked by the rudeness shown by the woman that she almost didn't notice someone else enter the living room. "Good morning," the new arrival greeted, Naruto's cousin if she remembered correctly from the few times before she's seen him. His appearance shocked her, he came out in a light blue t-shirt and grey lounge pants; and in his arms was a teddy bear! Ignoring the shocked appearance of Sakura, and the quizzical look from Anko, Jhadow moved to grab a chair from the kitchen table and placed it in front of the couch that Anko was lounging on.

After he sat down in the chair with the stuff animal in his lap, he gestured for the girl to take a seat next to the jonin. She did as he requested, seeing nothing wrong with following his command for now if he was supposed to train her for the next and final stage of the exam. Sitting there though, she couldn't help but feel a bit anxious under the scrutinizing yet lifeless eyes of the man before her, and the indifference of the jonin next to her. During this however, her eyes kept drifting towards the bear; he came out of what she can only assume to be the bedroom with it in his hands so did that mean…

She was about to say something when the man before her spoke up, "So you're Kakashi's student." It wasn't a question but she nodded anyway. "Before we officially begin today, I like you to answer a few questions and then you can ask me a few questions. Is this fine?"

"Um… Yes Sensei."

He nodded with a smile. "Okay, What is you're name?"

That threw her off including the jonin next to her. They would have assumed that he knew her name at the very least for this training. "Haruno Sakura."

"Now what are you're likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future?"

She blinked a few times, remembering that these were the exact same questions that her jonin-sensei, Hatake Kakashi asked her and her team when they first began their careers. Knowing the answers already, she began, "Well what I like isn't a thing but a…" She couldn't finish that as she winced which didn't go unnoticed by either of the two adults. "I also like both my teammate Naruto and that little creature that was with him, Slime." Surprisingly that came out naturally for her and she had no idea why she even said that. "I… I don't know what I don't like anymore, but I do like to read a lot…" After saying that, she noticed the grin on the man's face before looking past him as he gestured to something behind him. Her eyes widened at seeing the large bookshelf overflowing with books; most of which she couldn't understand as they were in languages she didn't understand. "Did you read them all?"

The man nodded, "Yes, I've read each of them over a few times by now with the exception of Spencer's 'The Fairie Queene.' That one is just a pain in the ass to read through entirely at least once. Though what are you're dreams for the future?" Sakura looked at him blankly after the question, she had no idea what it was anymore but her head began to throb. "I see… well then I only have a few more questions for you. Who was the first ninja?"

Her eyes widened at the simple question. She knew this like the back of her hand, it was taught back in the Academy. "That's easy, it was the Rikudo Sennin."

"Who the hell is that?"

That stunned Sakura and gave pause to Anko who looked up from her book. "He is the one who introduced Ninjutsu to the world…"

"Jhadow, this is something that everyone knows unless they were living under a rock," Sakura heard Anko say as she closed the book and pinched the bridge of her nose. "He's the guy who started the Ninja World and defeated the Juubi. He was also said to possess the legendary Rinnegan"

Watching the man before her intently, Sakura noticed how he seemed to know what they were talking about now. After that he shook his head, "Well that is wrong, she wasn't the first. The first were a bunch of peasants who learned martial arts to fight. They became assassins, spies, thieves, scouts, anything and everything that you do today. They came before Pimiko-sama tried to spread her _teachings_." He then chuckled. "It's kind of funny how she was elevated to godhood when she didn't actually _Ascend_."

"Pimiko…" Sakura heard Anko mutter before the older woman got up and walked over to the desk next to the shelf.

"Now then, can you tell me what a ninja really is these days?"

"We are warriors," the genin quickly answered. "We are the protectors of our village and the Will of Fire."

Jhadow nodded but did so with a frown. "Well to be perfectly honest, you are more akin to being shaman warriors with a penchant stealth based skills. Think of it like this, you are able to perform techniques with you're chakra and those techniques take on a supernatural quality despite how natural they are." She can understand that, but this conflicted with what was taught in the academy. "Now then, are you of noble blood?" She didn't know how to answer that, so she just shook her head while looking confused. That just seemed to make him rub his hands together and grin. "Excellent, this will be more fun then I expected. Okay, just one last question before it's you're turn. What clan do you belong to?"

She blinked, that was an easy one, "The Haruno Clan."

"Wrong!"

"What but I'm part of that clan!"

"That is you're family, not you're clan."

"Jhadow, she has you there though," Anko stated from the desk, looking through some of the books there trying to find something.

"No she doesn't." Looking back at the genin, he smiled. "You have one month to figure this out. You figure it out and I'll get you a gift."

"What clan do you belong to Sensei," Sakura asked, curious about the man before her.

He looked thoughtful for only the briefest of moments before saying with a smile, "They are gone and all I have left is my family." He then clapped his hands. "All right, now it's you're turn!"

"Um… sensei, I'm sorry but I never got you're name?"

"Really," he blinked a few times before striking a pose with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Why I am the Asura, the most holy sage of Chaos! I am Jhadow!" He finished his pose while puffing out his chest and both women in the room stared at him like he was nuts. However this didn't last long because Anko appeared behind him and smacked the back of his head.

"Idiot," she muttered before walking to the door. "Jhadow, I'm heading back with this book. Do you mind if we meet up later, there are a few things that I'd like to discuss with you?"

Cradling his head, the man nodded. "Sure, I'll find you later then." Then the jonin left the apartment leaving Sakura alone with the strange man. "Now then onto you're other questions!"

"What do you like," the genin asked after a few moments of awkwardness left by the man's introduction and then Anko's reaction to it.

He just seemed to grin and rubbed his hands together. "Oh this is an easy one… I like my family, reading, fighting, miso ramen and my art!"

"What kinds of art do you do?"

"Why the best art of them all Sakura," he began with a huge smile on his lips. "Nothing is better then the Art of War. It is so beautiful when opposing forces clash, with their beliefs and ideals on the line." That left her speechless but he carried on. "What I don't like is the three minute wait after I pour in the boiling water…" She couldn't help but blink because that was exactly what Naruto said during the team introductions those few months ago. "What I really, really dislike though is genocide and my _colleagues_. My hobbies, well they are part of my likes, and my dreams for the future? Well I'll tell you some other time."

"Jhadow-sensei, will you be teaching me things that Naruto knows?" As Sakura asked this she couldn't help but look down at her hands. She knew that this man was the cousin of her teammate, so it didn't hurt to ask him just so she knew what to expect from him. After a few moments of silence, she dared to look up and meet the mans calculating gaze as he studied her, and it was then that she couldn't help but squirm under the gaze of his lifeless eyes.

"I do know what he knows and more," he began as he stood up once more and replaced the stuffed animal back on his chair. "But what he knows took him years of training from Gramps." He walked up to her and took her hands. "Right now as you are, you wouldn't be able to meet his level for a couple of years because of the blood and sweat he poured into his own training. Now I'm not saying that he's superior or anything… well he is, but you can meet him or exceed him some day. I'm just going to give you a push in the right direction. Though before we begin any physical training, we'll be studying and letting our bodies rest." He then released her hands, and they suddenly felt very cold to her. "Before that however, I'd like to check something first, so just relax and tell me if you feel anything okay?"

She nodded as she matched his eyes. "Yes Sensei." He smiled and placed both of his own hands on the sides of her head, as if looking for anything odd, and when she winced, Sakura knew that he found what he was looking for.

"This is one nasty bruise you got here Sakura," he commented as he turned her head around to get a better look at it. "Do you remember how you got it?"

"It might have happened during my fight with Ino-pig." It took her a moment to say that as the man prodded her bruised head after brushing her hair out of the way.

"It looks older then that," he stated as he released her but remained kneeling in front of her. "You probably got it inside the forest…" Whatever else he said was lost to her as her thoughts drifted back to the forest. She winced in pain once more as she tried to recollect her memories of what happened in there; but as she did so, something came smashing to the forefront of her thoughts. "Is everything okay Sakura?" Looking up at her new sensei after cradling her head, the kunoichi could see the concern on his face.

Straightening herself up a bit, she took a few moments to collect her thoughts. "Um… Jhadow-sensei, I can't remember most of the forest. I only remember the first day, our fight with Orochimaru, and then when I was taking care of Sasuke before I was attacked by the genin from Otogakure no Sato…" Bringing her hand up once more to her head, she winced as pain flared with her trying to dig up more memories. "After that, I only remember the last day when we met up with Naruto again…"

The man leaned back frowned as he thought over what she said. "I think I know what happened; but before I say anything on the matter, I think we should at least pay a visit to the hospital."

Blinking in confusion, the young girl couldn't help but asked, "Why Sensei? I feel fine…"

She didn't get to finish because the man interrupted her. "You may feel fine but after the trials you've been through, it's better safe then sorry." Standing up, he then walked over the kitchen area while giving himself an air of importance. "As per the custom of master and disciple, even one as temporary as ours may be, we shall partake of the one meal that even my boss, Big C, cannot refuse…" Even though she had breakfast before coming over, she couldn't help but feel excited for what was to come next; especially when he disappeared behind a counter. Though this soon came crashing down with he popped back up again with two packages that looked very familiar. "We'll be having ramen!"

The girl couldn't help but feel a bit dejected, but she did oddly note how similar both her new sensei was similar to Naruto; despite him being a war loving nut-job.

* * *

It was well past midday, and Naruto couldn't help but wonder if he was either in heaven or hell. As much as he'd protested about the test that he was given, he actually enjoyed it; but he'll never admit it to his best friend, Hinata. It was just the kind of test that Pervy Sage would give him too.

The older shinobi gave him the task of infiltrating the Konoha Hot Springs and gather information. He had to do this without being detected and then captured; a real test of his skills. As part of the information gathering part of his test, he had to place motion activated cameras in both the bathing area and the changing room. The silly white-haired man explained it to him that if something moves in front of the cameras that they will take a few shots and each had enough film in them to take a couple hundred.

Once those were in place, he began his exit; but before he could truly leave, he had to take something from the changing room. He had no idea why both his gramps and uncle wanted him to take what they were asking him for; but it was a close call when Ino showed up and almost recognized him. _Almost_ being the key word there because he was transformed into his special technique the Oiroke no Jutsu which he was fortunate enough that she never saw before. Though his whiskers almost gave him away along with how he was acting in the room but it was only him and her. Being the bossy kind of girl that she is, she challenged Naruto as to why he was acting strange in front of her until he pointed out that he liked girls and that she was in only a towel.

Understanding his predicament and feeling a bit awkward now, she left him alone. Once he was alone, he grabbed what he was looking for and fled back to his home where he found both his grandfather and uncle sitting on the front steps drinking some tea. Seeing that, he tossed what he pilfered at the sage who caught it with deft hands.

"Excellent, I knew you would succeed," Jiraiya exclaimed with a weird grin plastered on his face as he studied the article in front of his eyes. "Oh ho, what a beautiful silky darling this one is. Hmm… Karasu-dono, what do you think it is? I'm guessing D-cup."

Matching the younger mans expression; Karasu studied the black brassiere in the sage's hands. Cupping his chin, he said, "I do believe that you are right Jiraiya-dono. That is indeed a D-cup."

Giggling like a little school girl over the silky black brassiere, Jiraiya soon handed it over to Karasu who then possessed a strange glint in his eyes. "Now that is out of the way, let's begin you're training!" The sage than stood up and beckoned Naruto to follow him.

Seeing this, Naruto waved his grandfather goodbye before following the shinobi. There were so many things that he wanted to talk to him about at that moment; but seeing the grim look on the older man's face caused him to look away. When he did however, he soon felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up now, he saw a gentle smile on the usually eccentric shinobi.

The two of them spent quite a while walking in silence until they soon came to a stream on the outskirts of the village. "This will do," Jiraiya stated as he bit his thumb and formed a few hand seals. "Before we begin however, there is one last thing that you have to do." Seeing what the man was about to do, Naruto took a step back as the sage slammed his palm into the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" In a burst of smoke, Jiraiya was soon sitting on top of a toad holding a large scroll.

The toad unrolled its tongue and laid the scroll before Naruto. Seeing the prompt given to him by both the toad and his uncle, he unrolled it seeing numerous names written upon it, the most notable being: Namikaze Minato and Sakai Jiraiya. There was one blank space right next to the Yondaime Hokage's name. Curious he looked back up to his uncle silently asking him what this was about.

"What you have before you in the Toad Summoning contract that has been passed down for generations," he explained as the as he smiled at the boy. "As part of you're apprenticeship with me, you will be required to sign that contract with you're blood. So write you're name down then press all five fingers into it below." Jiraiya nodded to himself at seeing the boy do as he was asked to do. Seeing that he was done, the toad shot its tongue out and grabbed the scroll before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. "Good, now that is done, let me explain exactly what this contract entails. First of all, you will now be able to summon toads anytime you may need their help; and they come in all shapes and sizes as well. The more powerful that they are, the more chakra that it'll be needed to summon them. Now follow my hands… good, now try this yourself."

Naruto nodded and went through the hand signs once more before slamming his hand down on the ground and shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" In the same manner as the last toad, a new one appeared in a burst of smoke; albeit a much smaller burst.

A small orange toad wearing a dark blue jacket appeared under his hand. "Yo Kid, if you wanna play with me, you're gonna have to have some munchies," the toad said as it looked up at Naruto in annoyance.

Naruto stared at the toad for a few moments while trying to not twitch at the little amphibian before being broken from the moment by the faint chuckle of his uncle. "What's so funny Pervy Sage?"

Seeing that he was caught, Jiraiya calmed himself down and crouched next to the two. "You of course, but who would have known you'd be able to summon Gamakichi on you're first try. Though the Yondaime was able to summon Gama on his first go." Seeing the boy's look of confusion, he explained. "The toad that was just here. Anyway, seeing that you can summon on your own, I think that it's time we moved onto the real part of the training. As I've been told by Karasu-dono, you are aware of Kyuubi being sealed within you…" The older shinobi couldn't help but pause after seeing the genin freeze up. "What's wrong?"

Naruto didn't answer immediately, but only after a few moments in which both the young toad and the Sage couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in. "I hate it," he answered simply. "It's so full of hate that the mere touch of its power can change how I am! When I last used it, its chakra was full or rage and hatred, but when it was aimed at a person, it wanted to utterly destroy that person! I may have hated that person as well, but when its power came to the forefront, I wasn't entirely in control! I refuse to use its power!"

Jiraiya calmly let the boy rant, letting him get it out of his system. "That is why you must be trained in using its power. You may not like it, but neither did you're mother." Now that shocked Naruto and he stiffened more then before. "Yes, you're mother, Kushina, was the last Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Did she like it? Well not at first but she did learn how to control it to not affect her. That is what we will be covering. It may seem odd that I'm doing this with you instead of Karasu-dono, but he has less experience with Bijuu with him only keeping tabs on where they are. At least with me, I'll be able to help you control it."

So many questions exploded within his mind, so many he wanted answered but the biggest of which was about his mother. His mother was the last person to contain the Kyuubi no Yoko? It couldn't be, why did no one ever tell him that before? Why didn't his grandfather tell him about that…

Wait, his grandfather had trouble bringing the topic of him being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi before so he couldn't possibly have considered doing that as well. It was a tough subject to bring up still. He was happy to know more about his mother, but the Kyuubi was in her last…

"How did it escape her," he asked, having ignored most of what his uncle was talking about.

Without breaking, Jiraiya explained, "It broke free somehow during you're birth. We don't know how it happened, we just know it did. There are a few theories as to what happened, but what I can tell you about the circumstances pertaining to its release was that the seal holding back the Kyuubi was at its weakest. Don't look too much into it being so from child-birth…"

"How do you know that?"

"What from child-birth?"

"Yes!"

"Well um… you're the third Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi; the first one was Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the Shodaime Hokage. The Kyuubi has been with us since the battle at the Valley of the End where the Shodaime Hokage faced off against Uchiha Madara who had Kyuubi under his control. Mito-sama used her abilities in Fuin Jutsu to seal the Kyuubi inside herself and since then it's been a tool for Konoha."

"You mean that I'm nothing more then some weapon to be used!" As he said that, he felt the gears within his mind whirling. He wasn't trying to understand anything but it was leading to something.

Seeing how offended the boy was, Jiraiya placed both of his hands on the boy's shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "You are more then some weapon; you are my god-child who I love. What we are doing is for both your own protection and the safety of those you care about. If you can control the Kyuubi, then you can better protect your friends and family. Sure in the past Kyuubi was used as a deterrent to war, but you won't be it. Konoha has plenty of strong ninja like me and Sarutobi-sensei around to make sure that you don't have to worry about a war." He finished with a grin while pointing to himself with one of his thumbs. "We have the guts needed to not rely on the Kyuubi!" That seemed to cheer Naruto up a bit so he decided to continue. "Okay, first up, meditation, we're gonna have you find you're core and then see if you can call upon the fox."

Taking that as he cue, Naruto stepped back a couple of steps before sitting down in the lotus position he grandfather taught him. As he did however, Slime popped up right by his face and jumped off before moving towards the toad. To both his surprise and Jiraiya's, the two began to play. Ignoring that, he began his meditation, not really taking note that his uncle was next to him doing the same.

It wasn't long before he began to feel at peace with himself and decided to search inwardly for the first time. When he meditated before, it was always done as a form of relaxation that his grandfather taught him. As he searched within himself for his core, the world around him began to disappear.

The next thing he noticed was that he was in some kind of sewer if he was right about the layout of the corridor he was in along with the ankle deep water. He had no idea as to where he was at the moment, but thought that he might be near his core. If he was right about that then the pipes might be the coils in which his chakra flows throughout his body. Looking around at the various hallways shooting off from the main corridor, he felt a tug towards one of them. Walking over to it, he could feel a breeze coming from it; so he entered. Moving further into it, he came upon a massive room with a large gate with a paper talisman keeping it shut. He decided that he should check it out, "Must be one of the Eight Gates, but what's with the breeze, it's like someone is breathing…" All of a sudden, the breeze ended. Peering closer into the darkness beyond the bars of the gate, Naruto could see a single burning red eye that had to be larger then he was.

"So you've finally come," the creature beyond the gate stated. Its voice filled with utter loathing. "Come closer so that I may see you better."

Naruto knew what lay beyond those bars, yet he felt compelled to obey, to get a better look at the creature beyond as well.

As he neared it, something suddenly jumped onto his back. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a voice that had become very familiar to him if only in his dreams. Turning his head slightly to the side, he saw the mischievous muzzle of that black furred kitsune that appeared before him weeks ago and repetitively again in his dreams from time to time. Turning his head further, he saw the purple eye of the fox as it laid it's head on his shoulder. "He isn't a very happy person and would like to do nothing more then to devour you."

"Khadow you bastard," the creature beyond roared as it tried to stab a clawed hand through the bars of the gate. It was futile though, the two who stood on the other side of the gate were too far away from him to attack. "How dare you do this to me to a fellow Beast?"

"K-han, you should know better then that, you know of the blood pact that my kind has made with _that_ line do you not," the now identified kitsune, Khadow stated as he his tail as if it was a finger. "You may have killed one of _his_ descendents, but he won't like it if you killed this one as well. He knows that you did as well, though he can understand with the circumstances as they were."

"So he's just going to let me rot inside of this foul _human_ then," the creature, K-han growled as it brought it's head closer to the gate; revealing the massive head of a red-furred fox. It was then that the Kyuubi chose to reveal itself to Naruto. The boy could feel the hatred he had to him ooze off of the Bijuu. "He knows nothing of what happened truly happened that night!"

"Then why don't you just tell him then eh," Khadow stated as he leapt from Naruto's shoulder and onto the ground before him. When he landed though, he grew to the size of a horse. "You know that he still loves you and is very understanding?"

"Then tell him to free me from this _human_ so that we may talk!"

"He can't do that, but you can tell either me of Drahdow-sama and we'd be sure to tell him," Khadow calmly explained before the Kyuubi. "Though let's continue this later once the boy is gone. He is here for a reason after all…" Right then, Naruto felt so small compared to the two creatures before him. The utter loathing emitting from the Kyuubi just boring into his being, it was almost suffocating and the strange kitsune, Khadow before him, its inquisitive gaze made him pause.

"What is it that you want _human_," Kyuubi growled out, and Naruto barely held back the flinch as he looked the great demon in the eyes. "What is it that you want to _grace _me with your presence?"

Losing his nerve before the Kyuubi and suddenly feeling so small, he almost took a step back if it wasn't for the strangely reassuring smile that Khadow was giving him. "Hey Fox, you've been living in my body since I was born. We're stuck together whether we like it or not, we'll need to work together from time to time. So I'll need you're help when I need it." In the end, he matched the demon's own glare.

The Kyuubi was strangely silent as it contemplated over the words spoken. "You human's are all the same," it growled before turning away from Naruto. "Leave my sight now before my ire grows _human_!" With that said a tendril of red chakra flew from the gate and slammed into Naruto, ejecting him from the room.

"Was that really necessary K-han," Khadow couldn't help but ask as stayed behind for a moment. Seeing that the Kyuubi wasn't going to answer him, he then vanish from the room as well.

Seeing that no one else was there, the Kyuubi lowly mutter, "All but both Father and Pimiko-sama are the same."

Waking up from his trance, Naruto could feel power flowing through his body, and as he opened up his eyes, he Jiraiya sitting before him with a look of pride on his features. As his eyes came further into focus, he noticed that both Gamakichi and Slime were perched up on the sage's shoulders with looks of awe on their own faces. "Good job kid, now try to use the Jutsu now," Jiraiya ordered as he got up and moved away from the boy.

Nodding, he got up as well and flashed through the hand signs, taking note of the reddish aura around his body as he slammed his hand into the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he shouted before a large burst of smoke enveloped the area and before Naruto knew what happened, he was standing on top of the head of a massive red-skinned toad that was smoking a pipe. Looking around, he noticed that the toad was wearing a coat similar to Gamakichi. Though that eluded him as he was excited over succeeding with the Jutsu; in his excitement, he jumped around for a bit until a massive tongue wrapped around him.

"You brat, what the hell do you think you're doing," the toad growled out as it brought the boy before his eyes and glared at him. "Why the hell are you running around on my head? I'm trying to enjoy the fresh air and the scenery and there you are doing your own stupid thing on _my _head. Now why don't you tell me where that lecherous lout, Jiraiya is; seriously the nerve of that man, summoning me and placing a stupid brat on my head as well…"

Feeling his own anger rising, especially after being talked down to by both the Kyuubi and now this new toad, Naruto shouted back at the toad despite his predicament. "Hey you stupid toad, Pervy Sage didn't summon you, I did!"

Laughter exploded from the toad. "You shouldn't lie; there is no way that a brat like you could have summoned the likes of _me_."

Now that really put Naruto over the edge. "Shut up you stupid toad, let me go now, I summoned you so you have to listen to me, dattebayo!"

Now the toad glared back at Naruto and nearly growled out, "Who the hell do you think you're talking to brat? How dare you, a brat who can't exchange sake, declare himself the boss of me, Gamabunta, the Chief of the Toads! Do you want me to kill you?"

"I can easily exchange sake with you, you stupid toad. It's not like I haven't done so before," Naruto growled out, knowing that the toad is underestimating him. He's done it plenty of times before with his grandfather, mostly in private of course but it wasn't as if his grandfather cared about the legal age of drinking.

"Oh really, then I'll be waiting. If you do so then I'll let you summon me," Gamabunta declared before vanishing in a burst of smoke and dropping Naruto. The would have hurt him if it wasn't for the quick thinking of Jiraiya who caught him before he hit the ground. However, before Naruto even knew that he was in Jiraiya's arms, he was within the arms of blissful unconsciousness; the strain from both the summoning and the sudden fright just happened to be too much for him at the time.

* * *

Read and Review


	10. Chapter Ten

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto while Slime is the property of Square-Enix. I'm merely using them for my own personal entertainment.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Standing on the top of the Hokage Tower, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but watch over the visitors who were arriving in his village today. It was the day of the finals for the Chuunin Selection Exam; a big day for ten young genin who will put both their dreams and lives on the line for the prestige of their own villages. He stood silently on the tower, flanked by both Raido and Anko as the cart carrying the Kazekage of Sunagakure no Sato arrived through the gates. Seeing that his counter-part in from Kaze no Kuni is checking in along with the two representatives from the Order, one of his eyebrows curiously rose. "So it begins," he finally said as he turned around to leave the tower to make his way to the stadium in which the main event of the Chuunin Selection Exams will take place. "Come, it wouldn't look well to have our guests waiting for us in our own home."

* * *

As Naruto walked through the bustling streets of the village, his thoughts were on the past month. Over the month, he refined a few skills and learned a few more; on top of learning of a few revelations surrounding the Kyuubi no Yoko. As much as he appreciated learning more about his mother, the thought of great and terrible Kyuubi being stuck in a _cage_ since the founding of the village left him in a sour mood. For a demon, or _beast_ and it preferred to be called from the few times he met the Kyuubi face to face, he can understand why the bijuu has such hatred for humanity. It's been used as nothing more then as a tool, trapped inside of a Jinchuuriki for so long; it would explain why it hates him so much. His grandfather didn't have much input on the matter, saying that the issue with the Kyuubi stems from the village itself. And Jhadow wasn't much help either saying that even though the Kyuubi is stuck inside of him and hates him; he said that he should at least be respectful towards the fox. He also said that he should not rely on the Kyuubi's strength and if his hand is forced is that he should combine it with his own. That left him a bit confused but he let it be.

Though with the revelations, more questions appeared. He knew that the black furred kitsune wasn't just him seeing things, it was truly real. Jhadow told him that it wouldn't bother him and it really hasn't aside from going over things in his dreams. It was weird because in the dreams, Naruto was just going through the motions that Khadow told him to go through and he couldn't actually talk to him at all. The only time he was able to communicate with him was when he initially met with the Kyuubi. That meeting though led to questions for his cousin who would casually evade them without much effort.

So lost in his thoughts, he almost missed his destination, the Hyuuga Clans compound. Fortunately, he was broken from his thoughts by the sight of his best friend, Hinata who was released from the hospital as of yesterday. He couldn't help but feel happy at seeing her walking about, but the sight of the bandages wrapped around her forearms darkened his mood. It reminded him of exactly who put her in the hospital in the first place and what he intends to do to the person later that day. Walking up to her he couldn't help but take in her appearance, aside from the bandages; he felt that light blue blouse looked good on her. "How ya doing Hinata-chan," he asked as he finally reached her.

The kunoichi smiled at seeing him, but was a bit confused. "I'm doing fine Naruto-kun," she said before finally deciding to voice her confusion. "Um… Naruto-kun, did something happen with Karasu-sama?"

Raising an eyebrow, he couldn't help but feel confused now himself. As far as he knew, nothing really happened between both him and his grandfather. Sure the old man seemed a bit stressed out with the coming arrivals from the Order and having to worry about his own safety in the tournament but he was going to be fine. He had the utmost confidence in his abilities and he was sure that he can handle Sabaku no Gaara. There was no doubt in his thoughts that he was going to face off against the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. That was going to be a troublesome fight. Seeing that he was once again about to be lost in thought, he shook his head and replied to his best friend, "Everything's fine Hinata-chan. Why do you ask?"

"Um… it's just that you aren't wearing you're robes. Not that you don't look good without them, it's just… odd… and you're eyes are a bit darker now. And is you're hat eating something?" Naruto had no idea why she'd turn her head away from him towards the end; though he put it aside at seeing the faint redness of her cheeks; so he figured that it must be her condition that he never talked to her about for some reason.

Looking down at himself, he didn't know why it was odd to be wearing something else besides his robes. Though he will admit that it was weird at first to have finally worn something else besides his robes and it was only at the insistence of the Pervy Sage about a week ago. He said that the robes weren't ideal for general use as a ninja. When he went back home later that day, for some reason, his grandfather smacked his forehead and commented on how his own personal style easily reflects his cousins when he was the same age.

It wasn't much really; Naruto just opted to wear a baggy pair of orange shorts, a black t-shirt with an orange vest over top. He had no idea why but when he paid a visit to his cousin, he felt happy to know that the older man thought that he looked badass; especially with the newly replaced straw-hat which is almost literally a signature trait for the family to wear.

As for his eyes, well he must have progressed further then he thought in the style his cousin showed him.

"Eh, Pervy Sage said I needed new clothes and Gramps said that I could spread my wings a little," he said as brought his attention back the kunoichi at his side. "They felt a bit weird at first, but now they feel fine. My eyes, well I've been doing lots of super hard training!" He then lifted his hat off of his head and let it rest on his back; revealing an orange skinned toad sitting on top of his head munching on a cookie. "This here is Gamakichi, I was able to summon him during my training and now we're friends!"

"Yo," the small toad said after it downed the rest of its cookie. He then peered over Naruto's head to look him in the eyes. "Hey Bro, is this you're…"

Hinata quickly turned her head away, blushing up a storm at what the toad was insinuating; especially with holding out its pinky while grinning. However Naruto was lost to what the toad was talking about and said, "Yea, Hinata-chan is my best friend."

The girl nodded however to her disappointment; honestly the boy could be so dense. She returned the greeting back to the small toad began to walk with him towards the stadium. "I think that you stand a chance against Neji-niisan," she finally said after fidgeting a bit. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's expense. Of course he stood a chance, he knew the boy since they were little; but he also knew that the boy was fully capable of manhandling Rock Lee; the boy who he defeated himself to advance in the Exams; though in that fight he didn't use any Ninjutsu at all.

"Of course I can beat him," he began with a smirk as he glanced at Hinata. "If I wanted to I could beat him in one move." His expression soon darkened. "My Will is stronger then his, and I have a better reason to fight then he does. No one is allowed to do to you like he did and get away it." He stopped and looked back as he placed his hat back over on top of Gamakichi, noticing that the girl had stopped and is looking at him with her eyes wide; idly noting that her face was turning redder then before. "Are you okay Hinata-chan?"

It was her turn now to shake her head before catching up. "I'm fine. Just be careful Naruto-kun. Don't let your anger get the best of you."

He chuckled amusedly. "I won't Hinata-chan. I'm just going to give him the _beating_ of a lifetime." The girl could only shake her head as they soon neared the stadium. After reaching the entrance, he left her to head to where the finalists were to enter.

However before he was fully able to leave her, she gave him a quick hug, "For good luck." With that she darted off into the stadium, leaving a confused yet happy chuunin-hopeful alone pondering about what happened. Though Gamakichi just chuckled about it and when asked, the toad would raise comments that just went over the boy's head.

Finding the entrance wasn't too hard; it was guarded by two masked Konoha ANBU who told him to follow the signs upon confirmation that it was him. As he reached the room which was opened up to the arena floor and the stands on the opposite of the stadium, he was greeted with the faces of those who he will be pitted against and his teammate Sakura.

The young kunoichi looked more or less the same with her usual attire but adopted the same kind of hat that he is wearing and is carrying a bo staff. It wasn't that hard to believe really; he knew that she was being trained by his cousin but this was the first time that they saw each other since the last round of the exams.

As he approached her, he couldn't help but look at the other finalists; noting glares sent his way from both the red-headed boy Gaara, and Neji. He noticed that Kiba took a sniff of the air before turning away in a sneer; confusing him a bit. Shikamaru looked indifferent at his entrance, but Chouji at least gave him a wave along with Neji's teammate, Tenten. The last boy he saw there was the other Suna-nin, the one with puppet strapped to his back; he gave Naruto a condescending look before turning away.

The only one missing was Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit sheepish at that. It would stand to reason that with being personally trained by Kakashi for the past month that they might be late to even this. He understood the reasoning behind Kakashi taking only Sasuke under his wing for the month; and he can only assume that Sakura as well from having his cousin train her. Naruto can only hope that he isn't _too_ late for the match; though knowing that this is important, he couldn't honestly see Kakashi being late to this. If he was, then it might be possible that he might be late for even his own funeral as odd as that may be.

Ignoring everyone else, and trying to banish the rising anger from his mere glance over at Neji, he approached Sakura who was looking out towards the stands. "Hey," he said as he stood by her side.

Turning her head, she saw him and returned the greeting only after taking in his new appearance. "Hey Naruto, how have you been," she asked as she fully turned towards him.

"Eh, I've been good," he returned with a shrug before summoning three cookies. He slipped one into his shirt, another under his hat and took one for himself. He noticed that Sakura looked a bit confused for only a moment before understanding from previous experiences with Slime. "I've done lots of super training with my Uncle, Pervy Sage. It looks like you've done lots of super training too with Jhadow-oniisan too!"

She blushed from the praise and played with the rim of her hat as she held her staff behind her with one hand. "Well I wouldn't call it super training," she began before Naruto interrupted her.

"Of course it is, just look at you." Looking over her, he could tell that she is much more fit then before and the way that she is holding herself there with the staff in her hands showed it. "What he did for you was indeed super training!"

"Well… he did give me a taste of what you went through over the course of the month but it was focused on a few things."

"Like bojutsu," he curiously asked, not really knowing of her skill with the weapon but seeing it in her hands it wasn't much of a question.

The kunoichi nodded as she met his eyes and held the weapon behind her back now with both hands before her expression turned sour. "He also beat the basics into me."

Naruto just chuckled at that, his shakujo ringing. "Well Gramps did that to me as well and still does every now and again. If its one thing that he beaten into my thick skull is that the basics are the most important thing anyone can have."

"Yea, that's what Jhadow-sensei said too. Though it wasn't all pure physical training; he challenged me mentally as well and had me study this one book he had called, 'The Art of War,' by some guy named Sun Tzu. It's really interesting with what is said in the book." She leaned in closer to the multiclass ninja and lowered her voice to a whisper as she raised a hand to help cover her voice. "I think Jhadow-sensei lives by it. No offense Naruto, he's a war loving nut who feels that it's his art."

Hearing that, he couldn't help but sheepishly rub the back of his head with a strained grin. "Well he is a bit weird…" He didn't finish the statement because the stadium became silent. Looking out of the room, Naruto immediately understood why.

In the highest stand, overlooking the arena floor, both the Hokage and Kazekage stood at attention with three men. He instantly recognized his grandfather, and even if he didn't know the other two men, he knew enough about them to at least identify them on sight.

"Who are they," he heard his teammate ask, obviously confused as to who the men in the stand could be to have the honor of being seated with the Kage's.

"They are the Elder Council within the Order." He then pointed to his grandfather. "That's my grandfather, Karasu no Kami. The man in white is Tarobo no Kami; and the man in red is Ajari no Kami." The other two newly identified men wore the same kind of robes as Karasu.

"Are they really important men?" Naruto glanced at his teammate and noticed that she was glancing at him as well.

"They are the men who help Sojobo no Kami, the head of the Order, lead the organization. They are literally his right hand men. Their influence is quite possibly greater then any one Kage. They govern the many branches that pay respects to the deities that fall within their domain, whether it's Light, Dark, or Between." At the end of that, he noticed his teammate's confusion across her face. "You've heard of the Noble Children before right? Well Amaterasu falls under Light, Tsukuyomi is Between, while Susanoo is Dark. Each of them falls under one of those three domains within the pantheon and it is these men that make sure that the Sect's that fall under them are running smoothly." After explaining that, he couldn't help but wonder why both men were there. They were his grandfather's equals in hierarchy, but why would they be here to see him of all people? Why did they deem this of importance to judge him?

"Wait a minute," Sakura said, looking as if realization dawned on her. "If you're grandfather has such responsibility, then why does he live in Konoha?"

That caught him off guard as well; it was a good question that he couldn't deny. Aside from the yearly gatherings, he doesn't do much of anything for the Order. It is odd when he is supposed to handle a domain within the Order. "Um… I don't know really, I think it has to do with me. My mom was a kunoichi and he probably just wanted to raise me where she wanted us to live."

At hearing that, she fully turned towards him and blinked owlishly at the boy. Shock written clearly across her face; it was quite a bit of personal information on his family that he just shared with her and he couldn't blame her for that. Hell, most people only hear the name of the organization and just know that it deals with the various religious sects scattered across the continent. She was just given a crash course on bare basis of how the Order runs; it was sure leaving her stumped for a bit.

He didn't let her go for too long because he had a question of his own. "Sakura, where is Sasuke?"

Hearing the question, she shook her head to break out of her daze and looked ready to speak with an odd look in her eye; however it wasn't to be. The Hokage called for everyone's attention.

* * *

Anko had no idea of what to make of the situation as she followed the Hokage into the Lords Box. Already waiting for them was both Karasu and Jhadow; the older of the two was sitting in one of the five seats set in place for the Kage's and the Elders. His grandson of course was sitting on the railing, looking out over the arena floor; such a sight left her speechless at the blatant disregard for protocol that all guards are expected to show. She let it pass though as the Hokage let it go.

Finally recognizing them as they approached, Karasu stood while Jhadow flipped back over. "Well, well finally decided to show up eh Hiruzen-dono," Karasu said as he gave the Hokage a bow which was soon followed by Jhadow who seemed to be sharing in the mass excitement of the tournament. "My grandson here was getting a bit antsy waiting here."

"Shut it you old Bird," Jhadow retorted with a smirk. "I just can't wait to see how the Kid does along with Sakura-chan!"

Chuckling, Hiruzen gave his friend a bow which was followed by both Anko and Raido. "It is good to see you as well. We were just looking over the gate, watching the guests enter. Though I am curious, what kind of men are both Ajari and Tarobo?"

The monk took a seat while Jhadow moved to his side. Seeing this, Hiruzen took the center seat, right next to the monk and both Anko and Raido stood at his sides. "Well they are _like_ me," the monk answered while looking at the Kage right in the eyes. What ever he was implicating was lost to her; though she guessed that it had to do with his position in the Order. "Though are both more strict in their responsibilities then I am. Tarobo as per being of the Light faction and taking over the position of Elder for Sojobo once he became Grand Elder, is a young hotheaded man who feels that everything should be managed. Nothing running unaccounted for or against protocol; he doesn't care much for me or the Dark faction in general. Ajari, well he's a young one too, not as hotheaded as Tarobo, but he's a sharp one he is. Pretty wise too, was nominated for Grand Elder years ago, but was passed over for Sojobo when I wouldn't take it up…"

"Wait you were in the running for being the big honcho of the Order," Anko interrupted, much to the amusement of both old men.

Scratching his long nose, Karasu chuckled. "Well I didn't want it, it was too much trouble and being in charge of it really would have gone against my Lord's teachings. Do you remember how I once told you that there were many lands that fell under one of three things?" The kunoichi nodded, but she noticed the curious expressions on both the Hokage's face as well as Raido's. "Well each land falls under the domain of one of three things. Just as the Order is broken into three domains, the lands fall under the same thing. Actually, the Order was setup to follow the domains of the lands. They can either be of the Light, Dark, or Balanced. This land however falls under the Dark, and so it is my Lord's domain. The Order was setup years ago as sort of an experiment to see how the others handle being here."

"So you're saying that the land falls under the Divine Darkness," Hiruzen stated. "What is the difference between these domains?"

"Nothing much besides being created by one or both of the two Lords," Jhadow answered for his grandfather. "It just means who has precedence over it. Think of them as a Daimyo; being the lord of an area of land; they have control over that area and allow what is to be done there. It is exactly the same thing with the Lands. They are either controlled by one or both. With Gramps at the head, it wouldn't have gone well for the original intention of the organization."

"Well that's that, but back to my peers," Karasu said, changing the subject back despite how insightful it was into the beliefs of myths behind the teachings of the Order. "Ajari, well he's generally a calm and composed fellow but he has quite the temper. Also the last time we met, he was very stressed out over something…"

"Any idea what that would be," the Hokage asked once again, trying to think of how to handle these men.

"Could be because I don't run things within my domain like they do." The monk offered with a shrug. "I just tend to supervise and make sure they don't get too out of hand at times. That could be why…"

"He was picking up you're slack," Anko deadpanned at the monk who had the decency to look sheepish.

"The Divine Darkness is very lax with both his children and his domain."

"I'm sure he is," Hiruzen stated before glancing to the entrance to the box. "Ah welcome Kazekage-dono, Tarobo-dono, and Ajari-dono." Walking into the box was the three men who arrived earlier at the gate together and their bodyguards. The Hokage stood up to greet each man. "It is honor for you to be here today and watch this spectacle with us today. Are you tired from the trip here?"

"Ah Hokage-dono, the honor is ours for you to welcome us into you're home," the Kazekage returned as he matched his counter-part's bow. From what Anko could tell, she couldn't see much of the man as he was covered by either his white and blue robe or the facecloth that only revealed his eyes beneath his hat.

"It is indeed an honor to be here today and to see the young hatchlings compete," Ajari greeted as he bowed. Anko couldn't see how he could be young; he looked just as old as the Hokage! Unlike the Kazekage, she was able to see his head and his red eyes that matched both his robes. He was also taller and larger then everyone else there. "It has always been an interest of mine to see these games but duties have always kept me away."

The third man chose to remain silent as if such things were beneath him; which might be true according to what she just learned before the arrival of the foreign visitors. He certainly looked the part standing in his white robes with that regal air around him. As insulting as he was, Anko couldn't believe that the Hokage let it be once again. As she studied each dignitary, she took note of their long noses, bald heads, and similar shakujo's which greatly reminded her of Karasu. She never met anyone else with a nose like his before and it was interesting to see it here; she pondered if it was a requirement within the Order to have noses like that and that when they ascend within the ranks that the process happens as part of a ritual.

Once the initial greetings were over, each dignitary took a seat; the Kazekage sat right next to the Hokage. Ajari sat on the other side of Karasu, while Tarobo sat next to the Kazekage. As they moved to their seats, she took notice of each of the four bodyguards that came in. Two followed the Kazekage and looked like typical jonin from Sunagakure no Sato. The other two wore hooded cloaks that matched their superior's robes. Each one however silently stood at attention by the side of their lord, and seemed ready to spring into action at any moment. The only ones who seemed relaxed with the tension were both Karasu and Jhadow; especially her neighbor, he seemed to be enjoying this a bit too much for her liking, though she did catch him sneaking glances at the guard in red every now and then.

After a few moments of small talk about what each man was expecting from the chuunin-hopefuls, the Hokage stood up and walked to the front of the box. He was soon joined by the three Elders and his fellow Kage. It would be only a moment later that the chuunin-hopefuls stepped out onto the floor of the arena and stood at attention with Genma before them.

Though there were only nine standing below, Anko couldn't help but ponder over the lack of a certain Uchiha. She knew that many came today to see him fight; to see the legendary prowess of the Uchiha clan that once proudly stood before…

She shook her head of such thoughts; those were in the past and better off there. Though, she did find it curious that the boy was missing now of all days. Surely his sensei, Kakashi, would have been punctual for once; the masked jonin is usually punctual for important meetings and events. Not being here with Sasuke was sure to aggravate the numerous lords and potential clients who were expecting to see the boy perform. There was no word of either shinobi, so they will have to play this carefully just so the guests are not too offended.

"Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, welcome and many thanks for gathering here today at Konohagaure for the Chuunin Selection Examination," the Hokage announced, his voice ringing throughout the stadium. "I would like to offer many more thanks for Ajari no Kami, Tarobo no Kami, and Konoha's own Karasu no Kami, to take time from their busy schedules within the Order as the Elder Council…" Said men waved at the gathered audience as the people seemed to begin to whisper in hushed, revered tones. "And I'd like to thank Kazekage-dono for being with us today as well." He looked over the chuunin-hopefuls one last time, before addressing the audience. "Well without further ado, we will now begin the final round between the ten candidates who advanced from the preliminaries. So please sit back and enjoy the show."

Once that was done, they all moved back to their seats, but it wasn't before long that the Kazekage made a comment, "Ten? It seems as if one is missing right now Hokage-dono."

"You only have nine down there Hokage," Tarobo said, speaking for the first time since he arrived. "Such an un-orderly event."

"Now, now Tarobo-dono," Karasu interjected. "I'm sure that the lad is merely running late. Nothing to get hung up over…"

"I know that this is supposed to be an exam," Ajari decided to add. "But he would be penalized for this would he not?"

Anko couldn't see any of their faces, but she knew that the Hokage had to be frowning when he nodded his head. "That is correct Ajari-dono. If he is late for his match, it would be considered that he forfeited the match and his chance at being promoted as dictated by the rules set forth for these exams."

The red clad monk leaned forward in his chair and folded his fingers under his chin. "That is fascinating Hokage-dono. So there is a charter in place that all Hidden Villages as part of you're alliance adheres to for these exams?"

The Hokage nodded. "Yes, even though our alliances are nothing more then verbal agreements, the charter is written and adhered to by all participants of the alliance. Any who break from the guidelines are severely penalized by the alliance for negligence. After all, these exams are a substitute for an actual war within a controlled environment where each village can showcase its ninja to potential customers."

The monk thought it over a few times before leaning back into his chair. "Well as fascinating as it is, I am definitely looking forward to seeing both Karasu-dono's grandson, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki fight against Kazekage-dono's son, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki." As casual as the comment was spoken, it threw residents of Konoha in a loop as they stared at the monk in shock; such information about Naruto was highly classified and even then, Anko was told that the information on the Bijuu fell under Karasu's responsibility. For this man to know about that and the other boy, it shouldn't have been possible unless he shared the information with his peers, but from looking at Karasu, she couldn't help but feel believe that he didn't share that with them. "It'll be interesting to see how a Jinchuuriki raised by Karasu-dono will fare against another."

"He has the _right stuff_," Jhadow suddenly interjected, catching the attentions of every person there. Ajari and especially Tarobo were shocked by the blatant breach of protocol by the man speaking out like he did and not directed at the one who he's protecting. "He will not fall to the likes of the Ichibi Jinchuuriki."

"Oh confident are we," the Kazekage said, getting in on the conversation now. "Is it because he has a more powerful demon within him that you say that or is it because he is the grandson of you're master?"

Both Jhadow and Karasu blinked a few times before looking at each other and repeating the same action. Jhadow then looked back at the Kazekage and pointed down at the arena floor where the rules were being explained to the genin by the referee, Genma. "Well, we are kin," Jhadow casually answered, not at all intimated by the questioning glances sent his way. "What reason does either of us need to believe that he will win aside from being family?"

"Yes well either way he'll have to defeat his opponent Hyuuga Neji first before he can have a chance to face Gaara," the Kazekage calmly returned before turning his own attention back to the arena floor. "Even then, Uchiha Sasuke may in fact beat him if he defeats my son."

"If the insolent hatchling decides to show up," Tarobo sneered as he leaned his elbow.

* * *

Standing below on the dirt floor of the arena, Naruto stood before his opponent Neji. He may have mellowed a bit after a month, but if he was to be honest with him, there was no way that he was going to let him get away with hurting Hinata like that. She was one of, if not, the sweetest person that Naruto had ever met. Seeing Neji's smug face across from him for the first time since they've seen each other a month ago brought his foul mood back.

Most likely seeing his foul mood rising, Neji asked with a smirk, "You got something to say monk?"

Hearing this, Naruto's eyes narrowed on the older boy and raised his fist before him. "Last time we met, you left in a lousy mood after what you did to Hinata-chan, and seeing you again really isn't helping any Bastard." The younger boy took pleasure in seeing the smug look change ever so slightly on Neji's face. "I feel as if I hit you at least a hundred times that it should make me feel better." He then lowered his head so that his hat covered his eyes. "After all, I did vow on Hinata-chan's blood that you spilt; that I would give you the _beating_ of a lifetime. After all, she is my best friend and it's only right that I return the favor back to you with interest."

Seeing that both boys were done, Genma decided to begin the match. "I'm not as weak as you may think I am if you truly believe that you can give me a _beating_ of a lifetime," Neji stated as he took up his familiar fighting stance. "I can't wait to see the despair in your eyes when the truth about losers finally dawns…" He didn't get the chance to finish Naruto was suddenly in his face with his palm open.

Before anyone else knew it, Naruto slapped Neji, and the resulting strike sounded as if thunder exploded above. "One," the monk said with a smile as he then backhanded the boy and sending him onto the ground. "Two… I'm feeling just a little bit better now."

"Lucky shots," Neji muttered as he got up and wiped the blood off his lips. Seeing that Naruto was just standing there, leapt at the unprepared boy and stuck the boy's chest with a palm strike; driving chakra into his foes lungs; a strike that would have felled anyone but the toughest of foes. "How does this feel Loser?" Smirking at the injured boy, his own smirk faded once he saw the smirk on the smaller boy.

"You should pay more attention," Naruto muttered weakly as he disappeared in a plum of smoke.

Surprised at the sudden disappearance of his opponent, he didn't the movement within the smoke before him. "Three," Naruto shouted as his fist collided with Neji's face. Unlike last time, Neji stumbled a few steps to the side and in his daze, he didn't notice that once again Naruto was in his face and latched onto his wrist.

"Four," a new voice shouted and all Neji saw through his pain filled vision was the monk lifting up his hat and an orange blur smashed into his face. With the younger boy holding onto his arm, he couldn't roll with the blow and was held in place.

As he turned to face Naruto and lash out at him, Neji only caught a glimpse of yellow eyes under Naruto's hat before it was lowered once more. This action though allowed a blue blur to burst forth from under Naruto's shirt and smash into his face once more. "Five," Naruto shouted as Slime retreated back into his clothes. "And six!" He pulled Neji back smashed his fists into the older boy's face once more. This time though, he let go of Neji's wrist and let him fall to the ground where he laid there for only a moment.

He knew that Neji had no idea as to what had just happened; he never actually broadcasted his knowledge in the skill of using Kage Buunshin. It wasn't something that he really needed; just something that he knew would help if needed. He truly believes in his own strength and skill to be able to defeat Neji on his own, but this also doubled as a test; so he had to show off his skills in other areas.

What he did was when the older genin was sprawled out onto the ground; he replaced himself with a clone. After spending some time with his cousin, he learned that shouting the techniques when used doesn't actually help in using them. All he needed was to just remember how to perform the jutsu and it would work. That was only partially right; he allowed the clone take a hit for him to catch Neji off guard. Which he did with the help of both Gamakichi and Slime who both struck the boy before retreating back to him.

"Impossible," Neji growled as he flew back onto his feet. "I am the number one rookie from last year's class. Hailed as the greatest genius of the Hyuuga clan in years, how could I have let him catch me like that?"

"Oy Bastard, I still owe you ninety-four more hits," Naruto stated as he stabbed his shakujo into the ground where it stood upright. He then took his own stance, one that he learned from his grandfather.

Growling at Naruto's actions, Neji flew at him, with the veins around his eyes pulsing. As he neared Naruto, his hands flew lashing out at the smaller boy; however each strike was deflected and parried. Then all of a sudden, Neji went flying over Naruto's head when he overextended a strike.

Pivoting in his spot, Naruto was graced the sight of Neji in a low stance with both arms extended outward. "You are within field of my divination," Neji stated as he glared at Naruto before launching himself at the monk. "Juukenho: Hakke Rokujuuyon Sho!"

Before Naruto knew what happened himself, Neji repetitively jabbed his fingers into his body and kept spinning around him. As this was going on, he made sure to keep both Gamakichi and Slime safe; so as the swift blows came he did his best to protect his friends. When Neji finished, he calmly said, "Sixty-four palms," as he allowed his catch his breath. Once he finished saying that, Naruto flew backwards in a delayed reaction. "Mr. Referee, it is over, I blocked off each and every tenketsu in his body; he can no longer stand or pose as a threat…"

"Fuck that," Naruto growled as he struggled to prop himself onto his elbows. Through the haze of both pain and the concerns of both Gamakichi and Slime, he was able to hear the arrogant boy. There was no way he was going to go down to a few taps like that. He was Uzumaki Naruto, the grandson of Karasu no Kami. The multi-class ninja of Konohagakure no Sato; he doesn't need chakra to kick ass. It makes it easier, but he doesn't need it. But damn having all of his points closed hurt like hell though. "I still owe you ninety-four more hits you bastard and what you just did just added to that!" With pure strength of will alone, he flipped up onto his two feet; much to both Neji's and the Genma's amazement. "I am not going to stop until I pay you back for what you did to Hinata-chan!"

"Yeah you tell him Bro," Gamakichi shouted from his now uncovered head as he clung to it. "Kick his ass for what he did to your girlfriend!"

"She is not my girlfriend," Naruto shouted as he looked at the smirking toad on top of his head. "She's just my best friend who just so happened to be a girl!"

"Right, keep telling yourself that," the toad muttered as he turned his focus back on Neji.

Ignoring the pain, Naruto dashed off towards his shakujo but Neji threw himself in between his path. Seeing this Naruto went to throw a punch at Neji's face but was surprised when his fist met air. "What the," Naruto questioned as he looked down to see Neji's smirk.

"You cannot defeat fate," the older boy stated as he gave Naruto a vicious double palm strike to the chest as he tripped over his body. The force of the blow caused the monk to fly the rest of the way to his shakujo and crash into it. Landing haphazardly as he did, Gamakichi was thrown off by the sheer force of the landing and laid sprawled out on the ground. "It is over now; you really can't do much against me without chakra at this point. Striking at those points does more then denies you your chakra; they leave you in such a weakened state that fighting back is impossible. You being able to stand up right afterwards is worthy of being notable for a loser such as you." Glaring at him through the pain, Naruto couldn't help but feel his anger rise at what the boy said next. "Just so you know, beating Lee doesn't necessarily mean that you can match me; I normally dominate him in our spars, so don't even bother stripping your clothes. It is your fate to lose here today."

Struggling to get up and actually using his staff to hold himself up, the monk growled out, "Shut up you bastard. No way in hell will I lose to you, and just so you know it is possible to reopen the tenketsu!"

"And how will you do that?"

The monk brought his hands together and snarled out, "Pure strength of will!" With that said, he then began to dig deep within his being. Searching for his chakra, if he could find a sliver, he can will it out. He knows he can, he did it before in the past with Hinata; though she wasn't as skilled as boy before him. Growling in frustration, he knew that it was beginning to frustrate him until he felt it. That little spark of energy within him that he latched onto as if it was a lifeline.

Grabbing hold of it, he began to drag it from his core, willing it through his body until all of his tenketsu's were sudden opened and his chakra exploded from his body in a brilliant blue light that wrapped around his body. "How is this possible," Naruto barely heard Neji say over the raging chakra that shrouded him.

Once the flare of chakra settled back within his body, he looked at Neji and narrowed his eyes. "Now I'm ready to end this. Just so you know, after what you did, I hope that you're ready for a thousand years worth of pain!"

"Let's give it to him Bro," he heard Gamakichi shout as he leapt back onto his shoulder. "Let's show him that no one messes with family or friends!"

"Yeah," he growled out as he forced his body to lunge towards his opponent. His body protested, most likely from the forced reopening of his tenketsu and such exertion after performing such a feat. It felt slightly sluggish, and it was because Neji was able to duck beneath the swing of his shakujo.

As the older boy was about to launch his own counter attack to Naruto's exposed midsection, Gamakichi dove and kicked Neji in the head. After returning to his perch, Naruto backed away from the older genin to give him some space. That blow didn't do more then slightly daze the boy, but if his body was going to act as such, it was foolish to charge as he did. He needed a better plan then just charge and smack him around silly until he was happy again.

So he did the only thing that really came to mind in his current condition, he performed the Kage Buunshin no Jutsu and four copies of himself appeared in a burst of smoke. Noticing that he was about to perform the jutsu, his friend hopped off of his shoulder and back to the ground to better allow the boy to blend in. The boy knew that this was his best bet; Neji wouldn't be able to distinguish him from his copies and with them swarming the older boy, he wouldn't be able to properly defend against it.

As he and his copies neared Neji, he saw his confusion and nervousness; obviously from not being able to tell which is which and knowing that Naruto is indeed a skilled fighter if he was able to perform well early on. Naruto liked seeing that. To see the older and contemptible boy squirming was pleasing, however that was short lived when both he and his copies smashed into a whirling barrier that shot forth out of Neji. The copies disappeared in the same manner from wince they came while he spun through the air and landed ungracefully back on his feet. Looking at the boy, he noticed the slight indention in the ground and instantly knew what had just happened. Being as close to the Hyuuga Clan as he was, it wasn't that hard to figure out what happened. He was quite sure that the Hyuuga who were in the stands were shocked at the display as well because just now the boy, who is a of the branch house, just performed a technique that is only taught to the heir of the main house.

"Hakkesho Kaiten," Naruto growled as he glared at Neji. "When did you learn that?" He had a fairly good idea how, and didn't really hold him in contempt for doing so since both his grandfather and cousin taught him that techniques are bound to be passed on without the notice of the practitioner someday. This was just an example of it without the aid of a doujutsu like the Sharingan. However, it did make facing off against Neji more problematic.

The technique was for all intents and purposes a powerful defense. Perfect, not in any way of the word despite how many of the Hyuuga and now most likely Neji would say that it is. He knew that such a feat uses a massive amount of chakra; expelling that much and making it a solid whirling dome of protection would require it to be so. He didn't look winded, but Naruto could tell that he was posturing and enjoying the fact that the multi-class ninja was giving him time. This was time not Naruto didn't freely give, it was forced because he now has to add in this new variable to counter it as well; like before he couldn't just charge in.

He could easily see the smirk on the older boys face when he slid into the classic Hyuuga Juukenho stance. However, the boy ignored his question and asked his own, "That jutsu, what was it? My Byakugan couldn't tell them apart."

Seeing that the boy ignored his question, he decided to ignore his as well; besides giving away a technique like that is paramount to suicide. Once a technique is revealed, it can be countered, just like he was preparing to do now that he knew Neji knew such a technique. Creating more copies of himself, both he and his ten copies flew towards Neji once again and attacked from different angles.

As he approached this time, he could still see the indecision on Neji's face, but he also saw the arrogant smirk just before the boy once again spun and created that domed barrier of his once again. Each copy crashed into the barrier and disappeared in a burst of smoke while the real one spun through the air once more but landed harshly on the ground. He could only glare weakly at the older boy as he proudly stood from where he repelled the last attack.

"As it was destined," the genin began as he stepped out of the impression in the ground. "I was to win. Fate had declared it so that I would win and that a loser like you would lose."

"Is that so," Neji heard from behind and froze up as the Naruto who was lying on the ground disappeared in a burst of smoke. "Let me show you a technique that Kakashi-sensei taught me." It was then that Naruto performed his technique. "Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Oji: Sennen Goroshi!"

Neji was sent flying and stayed air born for quite some time before painfully landing on the ground face first. Before he could get up and at least sooth his stinging rump, Naruto shoved him back into the ground forcefully while stepping on his back. The monk saw the old glance over his shoulder and the look of pure rage in those pale eyes. However he couldn't do anything about it because Naruto hand him pinned with his shakujo raised to stab down into him. The match was over and Neji had lost.

"Winner Uzumaki Naruto," the referee announced.

Hearing that, Naruto got off of the boy and walked away, feeling much better after that beating. He kept his word and gave Neji the beating of a lifetime while making him feel a thousand years worth of pain. It was more then enough to avenge his best friend. As he gathered his things and Gamakichi, he had to wonder why he went to such lengths like he did in punishing Neji. He'll have to ask his family later about that.

As he left the arena, his eyes drifted from the box where his family sat to the stands, trying to find where his best friend was. His thoughts turned to them as he wondered if they were proud of him.

* * *

"That was," Ajari begun as he watched the older boy carried out of the arena, "most interesting." Leaning back, he then turned his attention to Karasu. "What style of fighting was that Karasu-dono? I've never seen it before."

"There was no style," Tarobo sneered with distaste from his seat. The entire time he held the entire match in contempt. "He powered his way through the use of dishonorable tricks that the ninja are prone to use. And what was with that secret technique? It was nothing more then a kancho!"

Anko could barely hold back her annoyance at the lack of respect that the man had for the people of the village that he was in. Disrespecting the way of life for a ninja in a ninja village was borderline suicidal; his life was assured though for being an Elder and being a major political and religious figurehead in the Elemental Nations.

Hiruzen merely chuckled at the statement much to Anko's own surprise before he said, "He only used one jutsu throughout the entire fight." Just as before though, even though Anko couldn't see his face, she could tell that he was frowning. "Though the Sennen Goroshi is merely a joke that Tobirama-sensei once used on me when I was a young genin after someone else used it on them…" Anko couldn't help but glance off to the side where she saw Jhadow looking a bit sheepish at the trip down memory lane. "An old friend of both Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sensei once used it on them during a spar. His name was if I remember correctly was Kuroki Kage…"

"You mean the legendary warrior who each hidden village pays homage to by use of his name when the current age of ninja began," the Kazekage interrupted much to everyone's surprise, especially the younger ones present at the time. Though as a Kage, he had to have some knowledge of it and the Hokage merely nodded.

"Why yes of course, the very same," Hiruzen said, getting over his surprise quickly. "Though when Kage used it, he shouted kancho! When Tobirama-sensei used it back in the day, he made the name more elaborate and I passed it onto my students…" For some odd reason, Anko noticed the Kazekage nod his head. "It's become more or less running gag over the years."

"Regardless," Karasu finally said interrupting the current conversation. "Naruto-kun performed marvelously; though I'm not sure how he would be graded for his performance however."

The Hokage looked thoughtful for a few moments as he seemed to replay the match in his mind. "Well he didn't show much but showed restraint in the use of his techniques and much skill. I was honestly not expecting him to have both a toad and that little blue companion his has hidden on him. It's a bit early to properly judge, but he did show decent planning during the fight despite his aggressive stance early on."

The Kazekage seemed reluctant in giving his own piece, "He is indeed quite skill, making the fight completely one-sided until Hyuuga Neji managed to land that combo and cripple the boy from just that one opening that he himself was very fortunate to have gotten. Until he managed to reopen his tenketsu, he was outmatched and then it balanced it. I will reserve judgment on his promotion Hokage-dono, but he did show some tactical sense during the fight. His early usage of Kage Buunshin was interesting with how he managed to counter the fabled Hyuuga Hakkesho Kaiten."

"He did," Hiruzen stated with a nod. "Most of it happened in the end though; early on what he displayed was for show when he didn't really need it. He needed to use some tactics to overcome his opponent once they were on a more even playing field." He then straightened up. "He does have more chances to show whether or not he is worthy of promotion."

"So you break down each and every fight and take note of what each and every single participant did while putting on a show for the public," Ajari stated as he leaned back into his chair.

"That is pretty much how things go but we aren't the only ones judging, there are other officials as well. They are around in the stands and it is with their feedback that we properly judge who is worthy and who isn't." Hiruzen then leaned towards Ajari. "It is with this that the results to see who is worthy of promotion is normally seen the day after the tournament. The tournament is merely for show to showcase our young and upcoming ninja to various potential clients."

"With that in mind, with a better performance from one village over another, you will hinder them economically while showing that you have big sticks and know how to use them to others who may wish to strike at you." From her position at the Hokage's side, she could see Ajari casting the Kage a sidelong glance. "So how would the absence of Uchiha Sasuke be seen then by others?"

"Speaking of which, where is the boy," the Kazekage asked. "The crowd is growing quite restless; there is little doubt that this next match is one that they'd enjoy the most in seeing. Especially me, I'd like to see him fight my Gaara."

The Hokage sighed before he could answer however; Raido leaned down next to him. "Sir, there has been no word about the boy," the scarred jonin whispered that the kunoichi could easily hear. The others could possibly as well, but gave the two the privacy that master and servant deserved out in public. "Perhaps before the crowd begins to make a fuss we should disqualify him…"

The aged leader acknowledged what his bodyguard said to him and nodded his agreement. "He has not appeared at the designated time that the tournament began and he has still not appeared before his own designated match. So as per the guidelines laid down by the Chuunin Selection Exam Charter, Uchiha Sasuke will be disqualified."

"Hokage-dono, please wait a little bit longer before making that decision," the Kazekage formally pleaded. "The majority of leaders here today are mainly here to see the boy compete. He is of _the _Uchiha Clan, and those of us from Kaze no Kuni would like to request that our own Gaara be given the opportunity to fight him."

Anko couldn't help but feel the weight of the Kazekage's words as he said them and could only imagine the pressure that it place on the Hokage. He is the man who leads Konohagakure no Sato, the backbone of Hi no Kuni's military, and this was nothing more then a direct challenge at his authority. But it was also a move against the rules of the Charter, which were written down at the sacrifice of countless men and women. To do such a thing would be a spit in the face of each person who died for this system.

"You seem to be awfully concerned to have this match Kazekage-dono," Hiruzen carefully replied in even tones as he knew of the weight of what is transpiring.

"There is no better opponent then an Uchiha to show off the quality of my village's ninja to these clients," the fellow Kage returned as he focused on the arena below. "It is a great opportunity for us."

"The insolent hatchling isn't here," Tarobo growled as he glared at the Kazekage. "By all rights by the silly rules you ninja wrote the boy is to be disqualified!" For some odd reason to Anko, the Kazekage seemed a bit wounded by the words spoken from the disrespectful Elder. "If he is to be disqualified, then he is to be disqualified, no exceptions are to be made for him just because of his bloodline."

"That is indeed true, if any other would be disqualified; then he is to be disqualified as well," Ajari stated.

"If my grandson was to not appear, then he'd be disqualified as well," Karasu added in which both of the other Elders agreed to; albeit a bit reluctantly. "I'm sure that seeing that the brat hasn't appeared yet would put off the crowd as well. So he should be punished accordingly."

It was then that Jhadow decided to add his own thoughts to the conversation, "The bastard has been given ample time to arrive; and then he had until the end of the first match to appear. His time is up, by all rights the bastard is to be disqualified, regardless of lineage!" At the end of this, Anko couldn't help but notice the dark smirk that crossed the mans face before he seemed to share a look with the Hokage who had his own hidden smirk that she couldn't see.

"They are right Kazekage-dono, Uchiha Sasuke is hereby disqualified," Hiruzen announced before sending Raido down to the arena to inform Genma of the final decision, much to the Kazekage's disappointment.

With this called, Gaara was declared the winner and would be facing Naruto in the next round. Before that match could be seen however, there were still three more matches waiting to be seen.

As she watched the two kunoichi, Haruno Sakura and Kuno Tenten step onto the arena floor, she did not notice how pleased her Hokage was. He will not tolerate any of his ninja harm a fellow comrade. He decided that the boy finally needed to be humbled.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. I was hit by a case of writers block and couldn't get back into working on this chapter for about three weeks. It is during this time that I came up with a few other story ideas. I'll share them with you so you can get a feel for them before I begin working on them.

1) I've seen a few stories on the site about the origins of the Rikudo Sennin. As some can already tell, I already have my own origins for the Rikudo Sennin. This will be a companion piece to the "The Monk" predating the events by many years. We know now that Uchiha Madara awakened the Rinnegan before his death so it is related to the Sharingan; most likely the final stage of development for the eyes. What we also know is that the Sharingan was said to have been a mutation of the Byakugan. Will most likely be a one shot or one I'll go back when I feel like giving away more and more of the Rikudo Sennins life.

2) This next story is a crossover with Rosario + Vampire. Mikogami the headmaster of Youkai Academy hires a _team_ of ninja to protect the academy and to see if they can do a better job then the Safety Committee as a means of finally phasing them out. Will be a Naruto/Moka pairing.

3) Another crossover but with Teen Titans. There are quite a few stories out there where Naruto becomes Red X, how about one where he isn't. This will be it, but he won't be a simple thief causing trouble for the Titans.

4) This next story is a pure Naruto story. It'll take place shortly after Naruto graduates from the Academy, but he won't be the one that we all know and love, but one who has no choice but to become a ninja just to make a living in a town where no one will give him a job. It is during the week off before the Gennin Orientation that he'll meet someone who will give him the chance and maybe offer him more then what everyone else has.

These are just rough summaries of my plans for stories. I'll be working on these before I get back to "The Monk" but not before I get a second chapter of "Golden Eyes" in. Despite only two reviews telling me to continue it and not giving much else for input I will.

Well this note went on for a bit, so if you have any comments on my plans, please review the chapter first and tell me your thoughts on it. This will help me improve myself and see how people like the direction of the story that I'm taking it in.


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